Parallel Worlds
by Sandra S
Summary: Some paths taken are worse than others. And sometimes you are simply shoved down an unwanted road. Not AU. McKay, Teyla, Ronon, Sheppard, Zelenka.
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: The Stargate universe belongs to MGM et al. - this is for fun, no copyright infringement is intended.

Author's notes and warning: Takes place shortly after S5 "The Daedalus Variations," everything SGA or SG1 up to this episode is fair game. Rather dark, you have been warned.

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**- Somewhere in the Pegasus Galaxy, several months into the future **

Teyla had always loved the quiet hours before dawn. When people gathered together in the main tents after the night; to talk about the tasks of the day ahead and prepare for the work to be done. When cooking fires and candles still painted everything in a warm hue and voices were still calm and soft, gestures few, smiles readier than after hours spent laboring on the fields or hunting in the woods. When the world was still fresh and new, untainted by events to come, sorrows to befall them. Or at least as much so as one allowed it to be.

Cradling the still sleep-warm little body of her daughter closer Teyla sighed as she continued to listen to the murmured conversation around the long table, only every now and then responding with a word or gesture to a question directed at her or to a general statement made by one of the others. Yes, she still loved these quiet hours even if her role in them had changed so drastically since Kanaan had died and the burden of leadership had been passed so unexpectedly on to her. Teyla hastily lowered her head to hide the tears welling up in her eyes and rested her cheek on Charin's dark curls.

A natural leader like himself but hampered by caution.

That was what her husband had called her so often with a teasing smile. A smile she would punish by beating it out of him in their next stick fight before kissing his bruises better; then the topic would be forgotten until the next time he brought it up. And no matter how often he insisted she did have those abilities she never fully believed him, could never bring herself to trust her judgment and decisions with the same confidence he trusted his own. She had never known the rest of her people shared Kanaan's believes until they asked her to assume his position. She still wondered sometimes if it had only been because she, too, had the Gift to sense the approach of the Wraith.

"Teyla!"

At Halling's deep unmistakable voice calling her name she turned on the edge of the bench just as he ducked through the entrance, her greeting smile faltering in the face of his serious eyes.

"Teyla, men from away have come through the Ring of the Ancestors. They say they wish to trade."

He stepped away from the tent flap and immediately every gaze was drawn to the three men entering in his wake, bringing a cool morning breeze with them that disturbed the gentle warmth inside.

Teyla's eyebrows lifted slightly. It was not because one of the men - clearly the oldest with a lined face and iron-grey dreadlocks, yet the last to enter - stood tall, almost taller even than Halling who surpassed in height any other Athosian. Or because of the completely unfamiliar garments the other two wore - a black vest with many pockets over baggy trousers of a particular green combined with a matching jacket. There were countless cultures in this galaxy and she was not so arrogant to believe she had seen more than a fraction of them. It was not even because all three were obviously and very openly carrying weapons of a rather advanced design although they were at least polite enough to keep them well sheathed or pointed to the ground with fingers far from the trigger. Rather it was that while the tall man's gaze roamed watchfully over the assembled villagers, the two unfamiliar clad men immediately turned and looked directly at her. Although she wasn't the only woman inside the tent. It almost was as if they knew her and that was ... disturbing.

"Torren." Slowly Teyla stood and put her daughter to the ground without looking. "Please take care of your sister."

"Yes, mother."

Obediently the small boy came over from where he had sat playing Leaping Stones with his friend and led the gargling toddler away. And again, while the tall man didn't spare more than a glace there seemed to be a hidden meaning in the way the two other men turned their heads to watched their progress across the tent. The dark-haired one, who had walked with a slight limp and stood with a studiously easy stance (and also carried the largest weapon of the three strapped across his chest), seemed somewhat bemused as if he was wondering about something. The expression of the other one, burlier, with short brown hair and a slanting mouth, was unreadable. He had the coldest eyes Teyla had ever seen in a human being and her instant dislike of his strange interest in her children drove her a brisk step forward.

"I am Teyla Emmagan, daughter of Tagan."

Her voice, sharper and far more challenging than usual, succeeded immediately in bringing the undivided attention of all three strangers back to her. As had been her intention. Especially that of the burly man with the cold blue eyes who now narrowed them briefly before he gave her a curt nod and a studied smile that did nothing to warm his assessing gaze. His voice was as hard and arrogant in an impersonal way as she had expected it to be.

"Colonel Meredith Rodney McKay." He tilted his head towards the dark-haired man. "Captain John Sheppard -" Sheppard gave her a boyish grin and a jaunty little wave of the hand she ignored. "- and this is Ronon Dex of Sateda."

"Sateda."

Deciding to forgo strange names and titles for the moment Teyla focused her attention first on the warrior with the lined face, for nothing else but a warrior he could be. Still surprisingly powerful despite his age - she would guess him to be well past his fiftieth year in the measurement of the Ancestors - with guarded eyes betraying a wariness that far surpassed that of a simple hunter. She carefully controlled her own expression.

"Sateda was destroyed years ago. Or so we heard."

Dex's gaze flickered with an emotion gone too fast for her to catch but then his face stilled again and he gave a gruff nod.

"Yeah." His voice was harsh, raw, as if he had screamed himself permanently hoarse at one point. "It was."

He shifted his weight from one foot to the other and Teyla's eyes were drawn by a bone necklace swinging half out of his sleeveless leather shirt. Very long, almost elegant finger bones carefully strung together ... and from there to the two sets of scars on his chest just visible underneath, one old and faded, the other frighteningly fresh and vivid red. Five half-moon shaped dots arranged over a vertical slit, Wraith feeding marks, and from the little intakes of breath behind her she had not been the only one to notice. Snapping her eyes back up she found Dex watching her steadily and after a moment she offered an almost imperceptible nod of acknowledgment in return. It seemed like there was a tale worth hearing hidden behind the warrior's lined face that might not be so old after all. But that would have to wait.

Turning her head sharply she coolly regarded the man with the slanting mouth once more and again all her senses bristled with dislike and warning, keeping her tone clipped and challenging.

"Halling said you wish to trade. We Athosians do not trade with strangers."

"So we were told." His voice gave her nothing. "But we were also told, from the most reliable source, that the Athosians are good and fair trading partners to those they consider friends."

She honored that with a slight bow but otherwise did not give an inch.

"Friendship has to be earned."

Again that brief smile that did not reach his eyes played around his lips.

"I agree to that."

Hampered by caution. That was what Kanaan had jokingly called her many times. And this caution she had lived by all her life told her now to send these men away because they were strangers, because there was an air of danger around them that set her teeth on edge, because something told her if she allowed them to stay now there would be no turning back from the once chosen path and if it led to disaster. Yet another part of her - a reckless, wild part she so far only ever allowed to surface in the twirling of sticks in her hands, in the attack and counter-attack of battle - told her to take that risk on instinct alone.

"It is a custom of my people," she found herself saying slowly, "to brace for the coming day by sharing a cup of stout tea in the morning. You are welcome to join us."

McKay blink and the man called Sheppard made a sudden choking sound she with surprise and quite a bit of anger recognized as suppressed laughter. An icy glare from narrowed blue eyes sobered him up pretty quickly though. Keeping his hard stare up for a moment longer to drive his point firmly home McKay finally turned back to Teyla and answered as if there had been no interruption, and the infuriating air of arrogance and self-confidence around him was as strong and impenetrable as ever.

"It would be an honor."

Yet for the first time there was also a hint of warmth in his cold eyes that made her suddenly suspect that here, too, might hide a story worth hearing.

* * *

**- Present time, Pegasus Galaxy, M3X-779 **

"Living quarters back there," announced Lt. Colonel John Sheppard on coming back through the open doorway closely followed by Ronon, "although completely out of power like the rest of this thing. Anything interesting here?"

"Define interesting," McKay mumbled absent-mindedly from his crouched position in front of the block-shaped device that dominated the first room before pulling his hands out of the access panel with a triumphant "Ha!" when it suddenly hummed to life.

"Not so out of power then," Sheppard stated dryly.

He sauntered over while Ronon chose to joint Teyla near the crack in the rear wall that had allowed them entrance to this hidden facility. The Athosian gave the tall Satedan a quick smile before turning her watchful eyes back to the woods outside. A long ray of sunlight slanted through the jagged opening, dust dancing lazily in its path. The once blank floor under her feet was marked by dried water, and dirt and growing plants had obviously been gaining territory for a long time.

"Very out of power, actually." McKay waved a fluttering hand at the still dead and silent consoles that lined all sides of the room. "But this thing here has some sort of independent built-in generator." He clicked some keys on his laptop then checked the Ancient scanner wired into the panel. "An amazingly powerful built-in generator in fact." He tapped some seemingly random places on the smooth surface on top of the hip-high block.

"Define amazingly powerful."

Stepping warily closer Sheppard studied the lights now glowing and changing underneath the transparent covering. At his approach more of them seemed to come on, causing McKay to huff and start across the room, shouldering past Ronon on his way.

"Teyla, I need those extra wires I stored in your backpack..."

As he moved a new set of lights sprang to life at the far side of the block, drawing Sheppard's attention by first blinking in bright flashes and then burning steady. He lifted a hand and pointed.

"Hey, McKay, there are even more lights coming on now, are you sure that -"

"Yes, yes, yes, coming, just don't touch -"

But it was already too late. A green spike of light followed Sheppard's pointing finger on its way above the device accompanied by a deep powerful hum and the new lights abruptly went out.

"Whoa!" Sheppard jerked his hand back. "I swear I didn't do anything, Rodney."

Silence was his only answer.

"Rodney?"

Still nothing. Small stones ground under Sheppard's boots as he turned slowly with a growing sense of trepidation.

"Teyla?"

His voice echoed faintly in the empty room, dust still dancing silently in the streak of sunlight.

"Ronon!"

But only Rodney's backpack and laptop still sat serenely where the scientist had left them by the big block-shaped device.

"Oh, crap."


	2. Ice

Disclaimer: The Stargate universe belongs to MGM et al. - this is for fun, no copyright infringement is intended.

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**- Present time, somewhere **

"- touch any ... thing ... uhm..." Rodney trailed off and gaped in disbelieve at the thick forest around him.

"Rodney?" Teyla asked rather warily while Ronon merely drew his blaster and powered it up.

"How am I supposed to know?" McKay's trademark irritation immediately surged to the forefront. "It wasn't me who couldn't keep his fingers to -"

A long burst of P-90 fire cut him off, followed or rather overlaid by the coughing sound of a powerful energy weapon and several high, pearly discharges of something much smaller.

"Sheppard!"

Ronon was already halfway up the small hill to their right, with Teyla only a step behind, when he registered that there was definitely more than one Earth weapon firing. Then all that dropped to the back of his mind because three figures vaulted over the top of the hill, chased by an angry swarm of bullets. There was a flash of steel, of heavy armor, snug helmets and fluttering grey capes as the three men rolled and jumped back up only to freeze with wide eyes, dark tattoos standing out starkly on their foreheads.

"Oh my God! Jaffa?"

McKay stopped absolutely baffled between Teyla and Ronon - and all three warriors jerked their staff weapons up and fired and no matter that Ronon already mowed one of them down with his blaster and Teyla's P-90 was rattling furiously, bullets spraying off denting armor, one blast still caught Rodney squarely in the chest and sent him backwards down the hill, tumbling helplessly head over heel until he came to rest in the old leaves at the bottom.

"_NO!_"

Teyla's shriek reverberated in the air as she jumped after him, trusting Ronon to cover her back as she more fell than slid to a stop beside the downed scientist and rolled him over, nearly gagging on the stench of burnt flesh that filled her nostrils. Out of sight the P-90s bellowed again answered by energy blasts while above her Ronon and the remaining Jaffa were wrestling over a staff weapon, grunting and cursing, then there was the slicing ring of a blade and a heavy fall and then he was beside her. His sharp intake of breath fueled her own fears.

In wordless understanding he grabbed the emergency kit out of her still open backpack as she worked deftly at the straps of Rodney's vest, both subconsciously aware of the sudden movement of the fire on the other side of the hill and Ronon already turning sharply as running footsteps cleared the hilltop. The first Jaffa didn't even know what hit him, the second, coming over running backwards, managed to flip his weapon but was taken down by two succeeding hits with the high-pitched blasts fired by the soldiers in overwhelmingly familiar SGC garb hard on their heels. The two men stopped dead in their tracks at the sight in front of them, their zats dropping slightly. Breathing out Ronon relaxed his finger on the trigger.

"We need help! McKay is injured, is there a medic with you?"

Absolute horror showed briefly on the faces of both soldiers as they stared at the wounded man at the foot of the hill then the two zats jerked up and fired as one. Teyla's strangled cry was cut off as she crumpled sideways in a writhing heap while Ronon collapsed backwards, his last reflexive shot going harmlessly into the sky.

* * *

**- Pegasus Galaxy, M3X-779 **

Sheppard was running.

He had called. He had hailed them on the radio. He had searched all of the four rooms of the Ancient facility. He had tried the radio again. He had done a second search with the life signs detector, paying extra attention to the walls in case there were any hidden doors. He had searched outside. He had shouted their names into the woods. He had called them on the radio some more. He had not - a great exhibition of self-restraint - thrown the life signs detector against the next tree. And now he ran and even as he did he still tapped his radio every other turn.

"Teyla! Ronon! Come in!"

"McKay, do you copy?"

"I'm on my way to the Gate if you receive this transmission meet me there!"

"Ronon, respond!"

"Teyla! Respond!"

"Rodney, I left your computer in that damn facility and now get on your damn radio and berate me for it!"

But the only thing he got was short of breath and no reply.

Before the last line of trees he abruptly slowed and tried to console his burning lungs. He could see no one waiting by the Stargate. The life signs detector showed no enemy lying in ambush. Nevertheless he kept his P-90 ready as he made his way across the clearing and to the DHD. He had seen too much since they had come to Pegasus not to. He punched in the familiar address and tapped his radio after the wormhole burst into existence.

"Atlantis, this is Sheppard, do you read?"

There was the slightest pause then the gate techs voice: "Colonel, this is Atlantis. You are coming through loud and clear."

And Sheppard exhaled sharply though he didn't know if in relief or not because up to this point he had not been sure if what had happened had been done to HIM or THEM. He activated his radio again.

"I need two fully manned jumpers, Lorne, Zelenka and any scientist competent with Ancient technology he can think of and I need them now!"

* * *

**- Somewhere **

Teyla tightened her fingers around the armrests of the high-backed chair she was sitting in and then forced herself to relax again. It was far from easy. In fact it was probably one of the hardest things she had ever done but if Ronon's superior strength of body was not enough to rip free of the bonds around their arms, legs and waists there was no real point in trying. Drawing a slow, controlled breath she once more spoke to the blank metal wall in front of her.

"I am Teyla Emmagan of the Atlantis Expedition and I DEMAND to speak to the officer in charge immediately."

Beside her Ronon growled deeply in his throat and bumped his head back against the headrest of the chair he was tied to. To be honest, she was not far behind. Their captors had been rough, efficient and unfortunately very experienced in the handling of unwilling prisoners. By the time they had managed to shake off the effect of the zats they had been bound and blindfolded with sacks over their heads and then dragged off here and secured to the massive chairs without a word. At one point during this undignified journey they had been relocated by a transporter, the light visible even through the heavy cloth over their heads, although it had somehow sounded different than any Asgard beam they had encountered so far. Forest leaves had been replaced by a hard, unyielding floor and they had both spent enough time on the _Daedalus_ or the _Apollo_ to recognize a spaceship by the distinct metallic tang in the air or the barely audible thrum of engines vibrating through every bone. And as bare as this room seemed there was little doubt that invisible cameras monitored their every move while hidden microphones were ready to record any word exchanged.

"I am Teyla Emmagan of the Atlantis Expedition and I DEMAND to know what happened to our third team member."

And that was definitely the foremost question she and Ronon had been worrying about for what according to Teyla's rather good sense of time had been well over three hours. Not that they had discussed it or the growing unease concerning Sheppard's whereabouts ... not to mention how in the name of the Ancestors rogue Jaffa had made it to Pegasus let alone the strange behavior of those supposed to be their allies and friends.

"I am Teyla Emmagan of the Atlantis Expedition and I -"

The hiss of a door opening behind them came as a shock. Halting in the middle of her sentence Teyla exchanged a quick glance with Ronon. The former runner cocked an eyebrow. Behind them the door hissed again and though complete silence returned after that both Pegasus natives sensed the unmistakable presence of a third person in the room. The high backs of the chairs and their bonds stopped them from turning enough for a look. Again they exchanged an uneasy glance. The silence stretched. Ronon cracked first.

"Who are you? Show your face instead of hiding like a coward!"

There was a small sound, like arms being crossed, nothing else.

"Where is Doctor McKay?" Teyla tried for calm, tried to keep the sharpness out of her voice, the overwhelming worry. "Are his injuries seen to?"

More silence.

"We are allies of Earth. The SGC will confirm our identity as soon as you contact them. I must insist that we are treated according to our status!"

Cloth scraped on cloth again and then the purposeful footfall of steps coming between the two chairs. Teyla drew in what started as a joyous breath but ended in a startled gasp when the man in the military jumpsuit turned sharply to stand in front of her.

"McKay!" Ronon exclaimed disbelievingly.

Cold, cold blue eyes swept over to the former runner then back again before the man with the rank marks of a colonel calmly drew the 9-Millimeter from the holster at his hip, flipped off the safety, and extended his arm until the muzzle rested almost gently against the skin of Teyla's forehead.

"Well, Ms. ... Emmagan. Mr. Dex." His voice was as still and cold as ice. "Whatever they told you about me I'm sure they at least told you that I am not a patient man. So I will ask you once: Where do you come from, which System Lord do you follow and what was the purpose of that clone of me that is now in my sickbay?"


	3. Ghosts

Disclaimer: The Stargate universe belongs to MGM et al. - this is for fun, no copyright infringement is intended.

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**- Sickbay **

The petite, copper-haired woman slowly moved the humming Tok'ra healing device for the final session above the human body on the bed before her, her pretty face a mask of concentration. After a few minutes she opened her eyes with a sigh, let the device shut down and turned away to check the monitors to the side, nodding in satisfaction at what she read there. Slipping the alien technology from her hand she carefully placed it in a padded box and closed the lid securely then picked up a clipboard and started making notes. Done with that she checked the IV in the man's arm, the transparent bag with clear fluid at the pole, tapped it twice with her fingernail. Against her will her eyes wandered back to the familiar features, the so familiar face, relaxed in sleep. Her eyebrows knitted briefly. A male nurse stepped around the privacy curtain and handed her another clipboard. She thanked him with a nod and quickly went over the test results. Slowly the frown returned. She started flipping pages back and forth with increasing haste.

It was that sound that penetrated first the haze around McKay's mind.

That and the strong smell of antiseptics, the thrumming hum of far away machines. Groaning softly Rodney smacked his dry lips somehow registered the surprised movement at his side and made a valiant attempt at peeling his eyes open.

"Kller?"

His tongue wouldn't move as he wanted and he grimaced and blinked and peered blearily at the figure that bent over him. He blinked some more. Female but not the blond head of Jennifer Keller, more rust colored.

"Teyla?" he tried again.

"No," a not completely unfamiliar voice answered while the woman shone a penlight in his eyes then tucked it back into a breast pocket of her white lab coat. And through the new spots clouding his vision he caught the first good look at her face.

"OH MY GOD!" Rodney jerked and scrambled backwards up the head of the bed or rather tried to because he was hindered by the soft but strong restrains securing his wrists to the sides of the frame. "OH MY GOD! You are DEAD!"

The doctor flinched back, surprised by the violent reaction. Involuntarily she held up a placating hand.

"Hey, it's okay. It's okay, nobody is trying to hurt you..."

"No, no, no, no, no, no!" Rodney was still flailing and struggling in his futile attempt to get away from her. "You were SHOT! And years ago! And - SHEPPARD! Teyla, RONON, HELP ME! HELP! I - You - Oh, no, this another one of those brain probing-virtual reality-alien nightmare things, isn't it? Does anyone ever stop to consider side effects? I mean this could do some serious damage to my very valuable brain cells and while I have more that the average human even I am bound to run out of them some time or other! Ever thought of that? Huh? Huh? Hey, wait, no, what are you giving me I don't want to ... I don't ... don't ... don't..."

Doctor Janet Fraiser slowly drew the tip of the syringe out of the IV and watched the sedative take effect. Her brows furrowed again as the agitated man slumped back on the bed, still mumbling an occasional "No" and "Not fair."

"Ma'am?" The male nurse who had bounded back through the privacy curtain as soon as the commotion started gave his superior a confused look. "Any idea what THAT was all about?"

"No..." Fraiser frowned even harder then her gaze wandered to the second clipboard. "Or maybe..."

Abruptly she stepped over to the intercom at the wall and pushed a button.

"Sickbay to Captain."

**

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**- Atlantis **

"Do you really think it's safe to bring this thing here?"

Woolsey looked far from comfortable as he eyed the mysterious device from M3X-779 standing in the middle of the main science lab. Considering they had not even informed him about their intention to bring it in their haste to get it settled John secretly gave the man credit for his self-restraint. He was also more than happy to leave the answering duty to Zelenka.

"What?" The Czech distractedly pushed his glasses higher up his nose but didn't take his eyes off the laptop. "Oh, yes, yes, quite safe, yes. Besides, here we have much easier access to any equipment we may need than on planet. Will save lots of time, yes."

He became once more engrossed in his work and sighing quietly Woolsey turned back to Sheppard.

"How is it going, Colonel?"

It was the one question Sheppard would have loved to avoid. Almost five hours. It had been nearly four hours since McKay, Telya and Ronon had disappeared right under his nose and they were not an inch closer to finding them.

"We widened the search parameters for the jumpers. The scientists Zelenka left on the planet are still trying to reboot the Ancient systems there with a generator but it looks like the facility is in far worse condition than anything we ever encountered up to now. And night is falling fast."

"I see." And Woolsey actually looked like he understood. "Well, keep me informed." He started for the door then hesitated and glanced back. "And Colonel... I don't have to tell you that Kanaan is very worried. I asked him to be patient but if this continues much longer we will also have to inform the Athosians of ... what happened."

Sheppard could only nod in silence. Woolsey quietly nodded back and left. Exhaling heavily Sheppard rubbed his neck.

"We will find them," Zelenka said softly.

"Yeah." But somehow Sheppard had a bad feeling about this. He tilted his head towards the device. "Be careful with that thing, doc. Rodney said it uses an amazing power source and it might be a bit shook up from the transport."

"Ah, but that is the really interesting thing about it." Radek waved his hand over the block. "It seems it was specially _designed_ to be transported."

"Seriously?" Sheppards eyebrows jerked up.

"Seriously or I would have never thought of moving it. It has independent internal power source. It was in no way attached to the floor. It weighs surprisingly little in comparison with its rather sturdy construction. And it is remarkably well preserved in contrast to the rest of the outpost."

They both sent a long look at the softly humming device.

"You mean it was built to last while the rest of the outpost was constructed for a more temporary use?" Sheppard asked finally.

"That is what I am thinking, yes." The wiry Czech nodded. "And there is something else. Will you please step over here?"

Obediently John came closer. Immediately several more light lit up on the top of the device, blinked then stabilized when Zelenka tapped a few spots. Sheppard had stopped dead in his tracks.

"Radek, that looks awfully similar to last time..."

"Oh, I should hope so for if I am correct this whole thing fulfills only one purpose. And don't worry, it is gene activated, yes, but I cut the power output considerably down so that it is nowhere near its usual level. Mmmm ... but this is interesting..."

"Did you find something? Life signs as if in a dart storage?" In growing excitement Sheppard closed the rest of the distance to Zelenka and the device; and on the far side of it new lights came alive, flashing briefly then burning steady. He pointed sharply. "There! Those lights came on, too, just before they disappeared!"

"No, Colonel, don't -!"

Zelenka grabbed his outstretched arm but his warning, as well, came too late. The familiar green spike of light followed under Sheppard's pointing hand. The device emitted the deep powerful hum and the lights abruptly disappeared. Any lights. Including those of the ceiling.

"Crap," muttered Sheppard into the sudden darkness, "Did I do this?"

**

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**- The prison cell **

Teyla Emmagan had always been good with words. To find the right ones at the right time. To use them, if necessary, as a weapon, just like her sticks. She had negotiated countless trade agreements as the leader of her people and later for Atlantis, too. It was, she supposed, what had drawn her and Elisabeth Weir together in the first place, this mutual skill, this command of - for lack of a better expression - language. She still missed her friend. She was sure Elisabeth would have understood the irony that right then when she needed them most - no words would come to her.

"An alternate reality." She heard Ronon's voice but it seemed to come from far away. "We found a machine in a hidden Ancient facility. It must have transported us into an alternate reality. A parallel universe."

It was strange, Teyla wondered almost idly, that while they had all somehow accepted that there was a certain dark potential in John, in Ronon, in herself - had even been aware of what it would take to unleash it ... they had never stopped to think about the possibility that the same kind of darkness might sleep in Rodney too. The muzzle of the gun was cold against the skin of her forehead. As cold as this universe McKay's eyes and voice.

"Come up with something better."

"Come on, the theory must exist in your world too. An - uh - infinite number of dominations, each containing - containing a different possibility of reality. McKay - OUR McKay can explain it. Any possible outcome of any possible decision existing parallel to each other. Even if you never encountered it in this universe we did, on several occasions, it is a fact. There are other devices that bridged the gaps before. Even the Stargate."

Had Teyla still had breath in her lungs, had she not been frozen, brittle, shattering, she would have laughed hysterically that it was Ronon - RONON, of all people - who explained quantum physics and explained it well.

"Our McKay is no more a clone than you are. He is you. A you who was shaped by other decisions, other twists of fate but still you. It is the truth."

Ronon's voice came ever faster, more urgent and Teyla felt her breath catch as she heard the hidden fear in it. The Rodney McKay they knew was a loud, brash, arrogant, self-centered, sometimes ignorant man with the social skills of a four-year old. And the same guileless honesty. Rod - while a smoother, glossed over version - had basically displayed the same character elements. This man here ... was dangerous.

"Please," she whispered with dry lips, "I have a son."

Something squeaked and it took Teyla a long moment to understand that is was the radio in the ear of the McKay of this dimension that caused the sound. He tapped it with his left hand.

"Not now."

The radio squeaked again and longer and for the first time there was a small reaction in those eyes of ice. Without another word McKay pulled the gun back, put on the safety and walked through the gap between the chairs and out of the room. The door closing behind him with a soft hiss. Teyla drew in a shuddering breath and shut her eyes.

A long time they sat in silence.

"Teyla?" Ronon asked finally.

Turning her head slowly like an old woman she looked at him. There was concern in his eyes, and sympathy and understanding. She managed a small nod. He quirked his lips and nodded in return.

Teyla let her head fall back against the chair and concentrated on breathing slowly through her nose, felt the beat of her heart, the cold texture of the armrests under her fingertips. And somehow she felt strangely cheered by the thought that sometimes there were no words necessary at all.

**

* * *

**

**- Atlantis **

A muted ceiling light flickered back on. As Sheppard looked up about half of the others followed its example, casting a matt shine on Zelenka's wispy hair. He heaved a sigh of relief.

"Well, at least you are still here, doc. Uh - doc?"

Radek's hands made helpless little gestures in front of him.

"Where is machine?" he asked in a voice almost an octave higher than usual.

Sheppard stared at the empty space before them. No device, no laptop, no - as a quick look around the stripped lab confirmed - anything. He used a much stronger curse word than the first time then tapped his radio.

"Sheppard to Woolsey."

Only a dreaded but not really unexpected silence answered his call. Without much hope he tried the control room, infirmary and armory next. Nothing. He swallowed another curse and hefted his P-90 instead; glad he was still in his complete off-world gear. Small favors.

"Stay behind me," he said grimly.

The door whooshed open dutifully at his approach, more lights blinking on in a well-know yet now deadly silent corridor. He carefully checked it up and down. The far ends remained shrouded in darkness, out of reach of his ATA gene. All was still, hovering, waiting... Waiting. Swallowing thickly Sheppard slowly stepped back and let the door close in front of him.

"Reminds you of something too, doc?"

Zelenka shivered slightly. "It ... feels like when we entered Atlantis for the first time; ten thousand years after the Ancients abandoned it."

A long moment the two men stood contemplating the not so good implications of this.

"So, time travel?" Sheppard sounded almost resigned. "Janus?"

"If so then it must have been a prototype he developed and hid before the Ancients left for Earth. Remember, old Dr. Weir said the Council ordered Janus to destroy his work..."

They stared at each other.

"_Proboha_," Zelenka muttered finally. _(means: dear me / good heavens)_

Sheppard was already moving, nearly running out of the door and turning right down the corridor, his heart hammering with emotions he refused to consider. Instinctively shying away from the transporters he hastened some levels down, lights coming on readily at their approach and extinguishing slowly again after they passed, windows black and impenetrable in the artificial light. Zelenka's breath was coming harsh by the time they reached the room with the stasis chamber and John stormed right in, not giving himself time to think things over. He came to a dead stop in the center of the room.

The stasis unit was empty, the consoles controlling it as still and inactive as anything else they had passed on their way, reviving only because of his presence.

"Radek?"

"I don't know."

"Radek -"

"WEAPONS DOWN! DOWN I SAID! ON YOUR KNEES, HANDS BEHIND THE HEAD! DO IT! NOW!"

"Whoa!" Sheppard had whipped round fast as a snake but they were two and they had P-90 and they were soldiers with the emblem of the SGC and unfortunately not the least interested in what he wanted to say. "Whoa, slow down here, soldier. I am Lieutenant Colonel John Sheppard..."

"DOWN WITH THAT WEAPON! NOW! DOWN WITH IT!"

Beside him Zelenka made a high sound of terror with his hands in the air and cursing inwardly Sheppard carefully moved his right hand first away from the trigger then with exaggerated slowness up his vest so he could unclip his P-90 and place it on the floor. Showing his hands clearly all the time he let the 9-mm follow and stepped back.

"Easy there. As I said I am -"

"ON THE FLOOR! HANDS BEHIND THE HEAD! HANDS BEHIND THE HEAD!"

Nodding to Zelenka to follow his lead Sheppard grimly stretched out on his stomach and folded his hands behind the head as instructed. He did not like the flicker in the soldiers' - or rather marines' - eyes, the underlying trembling in their young, shouting voices. A frightened man was a dangerous man. A frightened, inexperienced soldier... He tried to make his own voice calm and authoritative.

"I am Lieutenant Colonel John Sheppard of the United States Air Force. I -"

"SHUT UP! NO TALKING!"

One of the soldiers pushed Sheppard's weapons farther out of his reach and circled on around them while the other clicked his radio.

"Sir! Intruders secured in Level K, Section Delta, Room one-o-four!"

Sheppard drew a deep breath. "Soldier, this is a misunderstanding, I -"

A savage kick to his ankle stopped him short.

"I SAID NO TALKING!"

Approaching footsteps in the corridor outside made John swallow any reply he might have been thinking of. Craning his neck in his uncomfortable position on the floor he caught a glance at the door just as four more men came through it. His mouth fell open.

"Colonel!" snapped one of the first marines.

The leading man gave him a fleeting nod and then focused his sharp-eyed attention on the two men on the floor. The bill of his cap shadowed his haggard face, accentuated the prominent ears. All in all, his expression was not so far from the first time he had set eyes on Sheppard ... and disliked him instantly.

"Oh my," Zelenka breathed weakly from the side.

"Sumner," whispered John.

**

* * *

**

**- Alternate reality. Sickbay. **

The brooding silence in the sickbay seemed to make the not really big room even smaller. Two serious-looking guards stood watch in front of the privacy curtain at the far end. The few medical personnel on duty made a point of being busy around the three occupied beds in the main area. The patients did not seem to mind. They, too, knew better than to come between the man and the woman standing behind the windows of the office for the doctor of the shift. Naturally it didn't mean they failed to strain for any word they might catch despite the firmly closed door.

Inside Colonel McKay thoughtfully regarded the display of the terminal in front of him, his arms crossed tightly. When he finally spoke he made it sound more like a fact than a question.

"So he can not be a clone?"

"No." Dr. Fraiser shook her head with authority. "The telomere length in his chromosomes is exactly within the percentage expected of someone his age. And there is still his reaction when he woke up earlier and saw me. No, I think it is safe to say that he is as real as you and me."

McKay snorted. "Is that the opinion of both of you or just your own?"

Fraiser's eyes sparked briefly with anger. Her voice became sharper. "It is the opinion of both of us. Unless you think it possible that some alien got its hands on your DNA shortly after you were born and immediately started growing a clone because it magically saw the potential of your baby genius right away."

McKay's unreadable gaze wandered from the monitor to her then slipped through the window and to the privacy curtain further down the room. There it rested for several long heartbeats. Finally he uttered a short "Huh" and simply left her standing.

Watching his silent exit of the sickbay Fraiser huffed as soon as the door was closed, and pinched the bridge of her nose. After a second she abruptly lifted her other hand in a halting gesture.

"I know," she ground out through gritted teeth, "I _know_ - just... I know."


	4. Second Start

Disclaimer: The Stargate universe belongs to MGM et al. - this is for fun, no copyright infringement is intended.

**

* * *

**

**- Alternate reality. Earth, Stargate Command. **

Sheppard paced restlessly up and down in the - firmly locked - guest quarters of the SGC he had been escorted to after stepping through the Stargate. And had he been in the habit of biting his nails he would have probably done so by now.

Sumner - God, alone thinking about the very alive man was so weird - and his marines had stripped him of his field vest and the knife in his boot as well as the little blade he kept hidden in a pocket sewn into the back of his pants (Ronon's suggestion). They had even taken his dog tags. Then they had been a little freaked out by the way Atlantis was responding to his gene. Zelenka's well meant attempt at explaining it unfortunately resulted in their separation and he hadn't seen the wiry Czech scientist ever since.

Stopping at the door Sheppard peered through the little window in it and wondered silently if banging against it was worth the effort. He decided it wasn't.

In Atlantis Sumner had had him under guard in the conference room (what he, Sheppard, knew as the conference room that is) while he disappeared to contact the SGC. At least John figured as much when he was taken to the activated Stargate soon after and shoved through to stumble down the familiar ramp in the Stargate Room. By the looks of it the complex under Cheyenne Mountain of this reality was not very different from that back home ... as far as he was able to tell from the few glimpses he got on the way to the guest quarters. Although "prison cell" might be the more appropriate term in his case.

Pacing back to the bed John dropped down on it then flopped back and stared up at the ceiling.

Had Rodney, Teyla and Ronon landed in this universe too? Were they stuck on M3X-779 with no way of dialing Atlantis without a valid I.D.C. to make Sumner and his men lower the shield? Or - he felt a chill down his spine - had they dialed and stepped through, trusting their identification code without establishing radio contact first? No, he answered himself immediately, Teyla and Ronon were far too responsible for that and McKay - well, McKay was far too paranoid.

A clatter and muffled voices in the corridor outside had Sheppard perking up then scramble to his feet just as the lock clicked and the door swung open.

"Colonel Sheppard." The man who entered the room had neatly trimmed dark hair, a smooth face and wore the uniform of an Air Force officer. "I am Major Paul Davis, Personal Assistant of Major General Bauer, Commanding Officer of the SGC. We probably owe you an apology."

This was so not what Sheppard had expected.

* * *

**- Alternate reality. The prison cell. **

Ronon flexed his arms and worked them methodically against the tight straps holding him down. Not so much because he really thought they would give way but more so he was doing at least _something_. His father used to complain that he only put so much effort in learning tracking skills because he was too impatient to sit in hiding and wait for the game to come to him. What could he say? His old man definitely had had a point. It had taken seven years on the run to teach him patience. Relaxing his muscles Ronon glanced over at Teyla who appeared to be meditating. He was not fooled. The encounter with the other McKay had shaken her. Heck, it had shaken him as well. It was...

He jerked upright at the hiss of the door and saw Teyla's eyes fly open as a familiar voice swept in in its wake.

"... no, seriously, I really, really need to talk to your boss. Your - uh - commanding officer. Or better yet to Carter - Samantha Carter - you know Carter? Cute blonde, almost as smart as me, really nice b-"

"McKay?"

"Ronon?" Rodney spun away from the three decidedly baffled looking marines who had escorted him through the corridor and stared at the two massive, high-backed chairs on the other side of the room.

"Rodney!"

"Teyla! Oh, thank GOD!" He hurried around and nearly sagged with relief. "I didn't know what happened to you and they wouldn't tell me anything and... Why are you tied down?"

"Long story," grumbled Ronon.

Teyla's eyes were full of concern. "Rodney, are you well? Your injuries..."

"Uhm, yes." Rodney touched his military green-clad chest self-consciously. He paled a shade or two. "They healed me, apparently. Don't ask me how. I asked Fraiser but she ignored me."

"Who's Fraiser?"

"She used to be a doctor at the SGC. I met her when Anubis - a Goa'uld System Lord causing more trouble than the rest - tried to blow up Cheyenne Mountain or rather Earth by overloading the Stargate. Dead though so..."

"Yes, we know, we ended up in yet another alternate reality." Ronon jerked at his bonds. "Now get those off."

"Oh, right." Rodney reached for the first strap then drew back. "Wait a minute. How do I know that you are, well, you? You could be your alternate versions you know. And for that matter you should make sure that I'm really me me. I mean ... ask me something only I can answer like ... like..."

"Rodney," Teyla interrupted with forced calm, "we already met your alternate self and I can assure you we are able to tell you apart."

"Oh." Rodney once more reached out and drew back. "What am I like?"

"You're military. You're a colonel. You threatened to shoot Teyla," Ronon answered promptly.

"I... Wow, really? _What?_"

Teyla glared at Ronon. He shrugged in return. She rolled her eyes.

"Rodney, I am unhurt. Please untie us now."

Looking rather shaken McKay fumbled with the straps at Ronon's arms, finally managing to rip them open. The Satedan pushed him away as soon as his hands were free and took care of the rest himself. Rodney awkwardly stepped back after untying Teyla as well and watched the two warriors get up with stiff muscles. Sensing his unease Teyla touched his arm.

"He is not you. I know that."

"Still, I can't believe..."

They all turned at the sound of the door hissing open again to reveal Colonel McKay and another - familiar - face.

"Sheppard!"

"John!"

"What, only captain? You've got to be kidding me!"

Everybody stared at Rodney then Teyla and Ronon swiveled round and stared at the man standing beside the other McKay in the door.

"Ooo-kay," John Sheppard drawled slowly. He ran a hand through his unruly dark hair. "Look, I think we got this whole thing off on the wrong foot from the beginning so let's try this again, shall we? I am Captain John Sheppard, this here is Colonel Meredith R. McKay, Commander of the Earth vessel _Isaac Newton_. So..." he offered a charming smile, "now that we know each other a little bit why ... don't we sit down and - uh - talk about it?"

Colonel McKay beside him sighed and rolled his eyes up to the ceiling.

* * *

**- Alternate reality. Earth, Stargate Command. **

"Oh, here..." Major Davis reached into a pocket, "These belong to you, of course."

Feeling somewhat dazed John took the dangling dog tags and stared at them then half chuckled.

"Well, I have to say, this comes a bit as a surprise."

"I can imagine. Colonel Sumner is a good officer. But he was a bit ... unprepared for your unexpected arrival in Atlantis. Our physicists are having a field day though, now that one of their most popular theories in quantum physics has been proven right rather spectacularly."

"So you believe us?" Sheppard slipped the dog tags over his head. "That we are from a different reality?"

"Oh yes, absolutely. Dr. ... Zelenka, I believe, has already started working with our scientists in order to find you a save way back."

"Really?"

"Yes. And I don't think I have ever seen Colonel Carter and Doctor Lee so impressed. They are our leading experts in astrophysics, engineering and wormhole mechanics here at Cheyenne Mountain."

"Yeah," Sheppard smiled a bit forced, "It's kind of like that in my universe too."

"I understand." Davis looked down and then up again. "Colonel... Of course we will do anything in our power to bring you back to your own universe but ... we must admit that we ... my commanding officers that is ... are very curious about your reality. As far as I understand you succeeded in deciphering many more secrets of Atlantis than we did. Especially the discovery of this ... gene that enables you to use Ancient technology as Dr. Zelenka mentioned. But we are also, from a ... let's say historical viewpoint, very interested in learning about the different decisions and their outcome that formed our respective worlds. You can see our point?"

Sheppard cocked a brow. "I think I do."

Davis smiled a bit sheepishly. "So... My commanding officers asked me to ask you to talk to one of our historians and archeologists about your experiences with the Stargate and Atlantis and, maybe, demonstrate to some of our scientists how your gene works? Until Dr. Zelenka and Colonel Carter are done with their research?"

Sheppard thought this over for a moment. Davis sounded genuine enough and his request was understandable. John well remembered his own curiosity about Rod's world when Rodney's alternate self had been on Atlantis. He couldn't even hold their first paranoid reaction against them, having been in their shoes himself, so to speak. So...

"Fair enough," he finally agreed slowly, "I'd like to see Dr. Zelenka first, of course. Make sure how it is going, you know?"

"Of course." Davis nodded readily. "Unfortunately that will have to wait until tomorrow because he and Colonel Carter have already left for Area 51. Something about a device they have there that might provide useful insight? I'm sorry but as soon as those scientists start going into details I'm out of my league."

"He left?"

Somehow that didn't sound like Zelenka. Like Rodney, yes, the man would rush off without a second thought if on the scent of a scientific puzzle but the Czech... Tiny alarm bells went off in Sheppard's head.

"I can try to get a hold on him over the phone as soon as they arrive at the complex," Davis offered. He glanced at his watch. "That should be ... in a bit over an hour. Would that be all right?"

"Sure..." Now John was confused. Could his instinct be so wrong? Or had he spent too much time in Pegasus that he saw dangers without reason?

"Fine. Then maybe you would like to have something to eat in the meantime and perhaps talk to our scientist? He can at least show you to the mess hall." Davis signaled the marine guard in the open door who in turn stepped back and nodded at someone out in the corridor. "Colonel Sheppard, this is Doctor Daniel -"

"Jackson," finished John as the scientist in question stepped through the doorway.

Dr. Jackson's agile eyebrows jumped repeatedly as the man fumbled nervously with his glasses. Major Davis looked back and forth between them with a fine smile.

"I see you already met in your own reality. I guess that will make your talk even more interesting. If you excuse me now, Colonel, Doctor - have fun."

"Sure will have," John drawled under his breath as he watched Jackson scurry to the side to let the major pass.

The scientist hunched his slim shoulders, fumbled his too long hair out of the face, glanced skittishly around and abruptly extended a soft-looking hand.

"Well, uh, er, hi. I'm Jackson."

Sheppard shook the slightly wet appendix, feeling like he had hit the twilight zone. "Sheppard."

"OK, so, uh - shall we?"

Jackson pointed both thumps over his shoulder, did an odd bounce-in-place thing with his body, swiveled round and headed for the door. Sheppard blinked, shook his himself and followed.


	5. Differences

Disclaimer: The Stargate universe belongs to MGM et al. - this is for fun, no copyright infringement is intended.

**

* * *

**

**- Alternate reality. **_**Isaac Newton**_**. **

"So." Ronon crossed his arms, turned his back on the blue stripes of hyperspace behind the window in the meeting room they had been led to and fixed first the alternate Sheppard then the alternate McKay with an unfriendly stare. "You want to start this all over, right? Why don't you start by giving us back our weapons?"

"Ronon..." Teyla quietly put a hand to his arm but Colonel McKay seemed perfectly undisturbed by the challenging tone.

"If I had you knocked out and stripped - how many more knives would we find?"

Ronon sneered but silently acknowledged the fact that neither the Colonel nor Captain Sheppard were armed while the marine escorts with zats had stayed outside. He dropped into one of the chairs around the rectangular table and tilted it back.

"Ah," Captain Sheppard coughed, "Water anyone?"

Teyla gave him a polite nod. "That would be most welcome, yes."

She once again noted the tiny limp in his step as he drew closer to the table but again refrained from commenting on it. Rodney - who could be observant at the most inconvenient of times - had no such qualms.

"Hey, are you -"

He broke off with an undignified squeak as Ronon shot out a long arm and jerked him down on a chair. Captain Sheppard made an involuntary angry gesture then stopped as if remembering that this was not the man he knew, looking confused. It was such an agonizingly John-like reaction that Teyla's throat constricted. Then she followed his gaze to his superior officer and nearly shivered from the sheer _wrongness_ of seeing Rodney's expressive face so closed off and distant. Colonel McKay's hard eyes swept briefly over the three of them before he signaled Sheppard with a short look to get on with it. The Captain grimaced slightly and finished pouring a cup from the water pitcher on the table, handing it to Teyla. She nodded politely.

"Thank you."

Teyla waited until they were all seated before taking a little sip and setting the plastic cup back down in front of her. Then her gaze sought Colonel McKay and held him firmly, refused to let him have an advantage over her, refused to think about how the gun barrel had felt against the skin of her forehead. These were negotiations now. Familiar ground. She could do this. She _would_ do this. Teyla lifted her chin proudly.

"So, since you are now willing to talk to us I assume you no longer believe Dr. McKay to be a clone? Or us to be in the service of the Goa'uld?"

"What?"

Rodney - their Rodney - looked speechless by the very idea. The Colonel, however, just returned her gaze coolly and it was Captain Sheppard who finally answered almost apologetically.

"Well, no. Our doctor says the test results rule out this possibility. But you must understand our need to be careful. Even if we were able to confirm right away that you and Mr. Dex are neither Jaffa nor host to a Goa'uld symbiote, there are enough humans loyal to the System Lords, eager to do their biding. And this whole ... concept of parallel existing realities... Until a few hours ago it was nothing more than an unproven theory for insider and a rather fantastic one at that."

Rodney's thin restraint vanished with a derisive snort. "Oh, yes, sure, now THAT is a complete moron with NO understanding of quantum physics talking. But maybe I should not be surprised considering your universe seems to be vastly different from ours and not only because of - you know..." He fluttered a hand dismissively at his counterpart's military rank insignia. Colonel McKay glanced down his jumpsuit and merely cocked a brow. "... but also because you obviously didn't get rid of the System Lords by now and even..."

"Whoa, wait a second!" Sheppard interrupted abruptly, "What do you mean by that? You honestly want to tell me you defeated the System Lords in your reality? All a hundred and forty-seven of them?"

Teyla frowned. "I ... thought there were never more than about a dozen Goa'uld who claimed the title of System Lord, Rodney?"

"A dozen!" Sheppard's exclamation was almost a sob.

"Captain!" snapped Colonel McKay sharply.

A short, uncomfortable silence followed.

"Well, uh, right," Rodney mumbled finally, "Vastly different, as I just said. But how different? Was - eh - the first planet you ever managed a lock on with the Stargate was...?"

"Abydos," Sheppard supplied with a wary look at his superior officer.

Rodney sighed in relief.

"In 1945," the Captain added. "The only wormhole we could establish for the next forty years until the Tok'ra showed us how to compensate for some millennia of planetary drift."

Rodney's mouth stood open, Teyla frowned some more as she tried to remember the sketchy details she knew about Earth history, Ronon - who had never been much interested in the subject - took it all in stride.

"This is not what happened in your reality?"

"No, I can honestly say it didn't." Rodney sounded a bit faint. "They got a lock in 1945, lost a man to a planet with a broken DHD and terminated the experiment until Dr. Jackson figured out the address for Abydos nearly fifty years later."

"Oh?" Sheppard raised his brows. "Well, here Stargate Operations, the Company of Professor Langford and Dr. Littlefield, never stopped organizing international scientific expeditions to Abydos for research and cultural exchange."

"The Stargate was not kept a secret?"

"Not after the military lost interest since it was neither a weapon nor the Abydonian culture more advanced than ours, no." The Captain shrugged. "It became sort of normal that there was a connection to one other planet. For scientists it was a dream come true but, to be honest, people in general were more interested in the Cold War or the first man on the moon than in a desert culture."

"I heard about this Cold War," Teyla said disapprovingly, "Though I find the concept of something like this very strange. On Athos -"

"Yes, yes, yes, now let's not dwell on history," Rodney interrupted hastily, having been of the receiving end of this particular opinion of her before.

"Athos?" Colonel McKay threw in calmly.

"My home planet."

The Colonel made a small, non-committal sound but seemed not overly upset about the discovery that she was not from Earth. His cool gaze swept over to Ronon.

"Not mine," the Satedan grunted.

Colonel McKay's face remained impassive as he stared at him. Ronon stared right back. Sheppard shifted uncomfortably. Teyla felt oddly reminded of the staring matches her teammate usually had with Todd the Wraith. It was a somewhat disturbing thought.

"Uh - scientific expeditions," Rodney supplied, not without a nervous glance at the two staring men, "To Abydos. What about Ra? Our first expedition there had one hell of a time getting rid of him and that they did was just dumb luck if you ask me."

Captain Sheppard waited for a quiet nod from the Colonel before he answered.

"Since Ra's visits were as infrequent as our own it took until 1986 for an intersection. Was quite a nasty shock that the Abydonian tales of Bad Gods with glowing eyes and their demon warriors were more than superstitious believes. To our luck the Tok'ra Selmak and his host Saroosh had undermined Ra's inner circle. They sabotaged his ship and then helped most of the expedition to escape through the Stargate just before Ra retreated to space." He hesitated and then continued. "The Tok'ra knew it was only a matter of time until he attacked Earth after that and only due to their knowledge and help the _Albert Einstein_, our first spaceship with limited hyperspace capability under the command of Lt. Colonel Jack O'Neill, was launched in time to protect Earth against Ra's motherships ten months later."

"Huh," muttered Rodney, "Seems like the Tok'ra in your reality have proven much more forthcoming about their technology than in our."

Sheppard tilted his head questioningly. "They have always been true allies and friends. After we defeated Ra they helped us create a program to explore the galaxy through the Gate system for further advanced technology and other allies. It was them who introduced us to the leaders of the kindling Jaffa rebellion, Master Bra'tac and his former pupil Teal'c. Over the years we were able to keep the System Lords at bay and even do some serious damage to their society but it was slow going, considering their number."

"Yeah, so you have to deal with more of those snake things than they had to." Ronon waved an impatient hand. "But how did they end up in this galaxy too?"

"What do you mean?" Sheppard frowned. "The Goa'uld developed in the Milky Way."

This ... brought on another silence.

"Yes, but we are ... in Pegasus," Teyla corrected hesitatingly, "The Pegasus Galaxy."

Captain Sheppard looked at Colonel McKay, Colonel McKay looked at Captain Sheppard. Then they looked at the three people across the table.

"Are we now talking about _intergalactic space travel_?" Sheppard's lips twitched in a disbelieving smile. "Or establishing an intergalactic wormhole?"

"Rodney?" Teyla swung around the same second Ronon exclaimed "McKay?"

"It's impossible." Rodney looked shell-shocked. "I - I - I mean we know since the quantum mirror from P3R-233 that you need a relative small amount of power to cross into another timeline but just to relocate the traveller to another place in space would shoot the power consumption through the roof. To transport someone to a different planet let alone a different galaxy that is just _insane _... but ... the readings I got did indicate an extreme power output even if I have no idea how they managed it without a Z.P.M. and there was no Z.P.M. only that built-in generator and...." He trailed off, his eyes moving rapidly with silent calculations. Finally he swallowed hard and looked back up, his eyes wide. "Oh my God. It might BE possible after all."

"Then how do we get back?" Ronon leaned forward. "And what about Sheppard? Not you. Our Sheppard."

Captain Sheppard closed his mouth and looked taken aback.

"HOW am I supposed to know?" snapped Rodney. "I didn't activate the device that was Mister I-can't-keep-my-fingers-to-myself over there! Even if it was our version of him."

The Captain's brows rose even further as he now found himself at the receiving end of a venomous glare. Rodney was already off again.

"And no, I don't think he was transported with us to that planet or have you seen him there? I mean -," he abruptly pointed an accusing finger in Sheppard's face, "- you didn't LEAVE him there when you took us prisoner, did you?"

"Uhm..." Sheppard floundered for a second, mesmerized by the stabbing finger, "As far as we can tell there were only you and the Jaffa..."

"See?" Ignoring him Rodney rounded on his teammates again.

"This is very good but we must still find a way to return home." Teyla sounded somewhat suppressed. "And if we are in Milky Way and the device is in Pegasus..."

"We'll go to Earth, dial Atlantis or the planet with the facility, McKay figures it out..." Ronon shrugged again. "No problem, right?"

They all three looked expectantly across the table. The Colonel and Sheppard sat like frozen.

"Oh, right, you never established a wormhole to another galaxy." Rodney snapped his fingers and smiled quite patronisingly. "Don't worry about the amount of power it will take. Even if SG1 probably didn't hide a Z.P.M. in the past of this timeline there is this planet with an Ancient facility that has one and I have those coordinates. So, go on, contact Earth and leave the rest to the expert, namely: me."

"That is not possible." Colonel McKay's voice was like ice.

"What do you mean? Of course it is, all we have to do is -"

Colonel McKay cut him off.

"It is not possible because Earth was destroyed. Along with all its inhabitants."

Captain Sheppard closed his eyes and turned his head away.

"What do you mean?" Ronon asked after a shocked pause. "Destroyed?"

"There were so many people on your planet," Teyla added equally stunned. "You cannot mean to say that they are all ... gone."

"The sun turned supernova six years ago. There is nothing left."

"Oh God, Jeannie." Rodney stood abruptly. "My sister. I mean your sister. Our sister. Is she safe, is she here, is she...?" He stopped at what he saw in his other self's face.

"No," he whispered brokenly.

Captain Sheppard's eyes showed sudden alarm as he glanced at his superior officer. Teyla and Ronon only stared. The Colonel seemed to be hardly breathing, looking at Rodney as if he had just been slapped. Or maybe one second away from striking the other man. Then he pushed back his chair with a loud screech and left the room.


	6. Desperation

Disclaimer: The Stargate universe belongs to MGM et al. - this is for fun, no copyright infringement is intended.

**

* * *

**

**- Atlantis **

"Kanaan." Richard Woolsey stood behind his desk as he saw his visitor in the door.

"Mr. Woolsey." The dark-haired man ignored the gesture to have a seat and remained standing. His left arm cradled easily around the Athosian baby sling with his son, and somehow it looked perfectly natural and not the least bit funny or ridiculous. "It has been two days since you ordered the device sealed away."

Woolsey exhaled a long, slow breath.

"Yes," he said quietly, "And I am very, very sorry but it will stay that way. I have no choice. We've already lost our two leading scientists, our foremost experts in Ancient technology. I can not risk the life and well-being of more people."

Kanaan's eyes rested on the open laptop on the table. "You have found something about it in the database."

It was not really a question. Woolsey nodded.

"Yes. We did. Please..."

Again he indicated the chairs in front of his desk and finally Kanaan sat slowly. Torren made a small, sleepy sound, his eyes no more than slits as his gaze languorously roamed around the room. Woolsey watched him for a long moment before he sat down, too, and clasped his hands in front of him.

"According to the database the device was constructed by a brilliant Ancient scientist by the name of Hokatom. Originally he and his wife were the leading engineers in developing and incorporating the Gene Activation Component in Ancient technology in the early years of their war with the Wraith. Then the ship his wife was traveling on, bound for some remote outpost to install their newest upgrade, was intercepted by the enemy. There were no survivors."

Woolsey paused and Kanaan gave a brief nod. This was nothing new to an inhabitant of the Pegasus Galaxy. The leader of Atlantis sighed.

"After that ... Hokatom became ... driven. It seems he had loved his wife dearly, could not overcome her death, lost all sense of direction without her. In the end he seemed to have developed the fixed idea to find her again - and be it in a different reality." Woolsey coughed. "Uh, the concept of a multilayer universe is..."

"You mean something similar to what happened on the other _Daedalus_ not long ago," Kanaan interrupted politely, "Dr. McKay explained it in great detail at lunch for several days afterwards."

"Er, yes, right." Woolsey looked briefly disconcerted then found his footing again. "As I was just saying, Hokatom seemed to have become obsessed with the idea to see his wife again. He changed his line of research drastically, focusing all his attention and time on constructing a device that would allow him to cross the gaps separating the different timelines or rather realities created by different decisions. The High Council of Atlantis did not like what he was doing but obviously they let him be at first, hoping he would regain his senses after a time. When it was brought to their knowledge that, according to things he said to friends, it was not only his intention to SEE his wife one last time but to actually bring her BACK with him, even by force if necessary ... they tried to stop him. Unfortunately he was one step ahead and went into hiding before they could get a hold on him, working in secret to complete his work. For several years he avoided the authorities then he was taken into custody when restocking his supplies on a planet of one of their allies. But though he was questioned repeatedly he never revealed the last hiding place of his research up to the very end ... or if he had been successful. Though I guess we now know the answer to that."

Kanaan's thump was rubbing gentle circles on the head of his son. His eyes were hooded.

"So that is where they have disappeared to: Different realities. Because a man could not accept the loss of his wife."

"We must assume as much." Woolsey sigh again deeply. "Although the real tragedy about Hokatom's fate is the fact that in the end he would have only ever been able to travel to universes where his device existed ... and the sole reason he developed it _was_ the death of his wife."

"He could never have succeeded."

"No. She would have had perished in any reality he went to. But he was..."

"Desperate," Kanaan finished very quietly.

"Yes." Woolsey looked down at his desk. "Kanaan... It might be little consolation to you but ... if anybody is able to figure out a way back it will be Dr. McKay and Dr. Zelenka. And I want you to know that while according to IOA regulations it would be my duty to have the device dismantled or at least the power supply cut to eliminate the threat of foreign intervention in our reality ... I have not ordered to do so yet. I know it is little enough."

"You mean you ... _leave a light on_ ... for them." Kanaan pronounced the unfamiliar proverb very carefully. He gave the man from Earth a sad smile. "It is something."

* * *

**- Alternate reality. **_**Isaac Newton**_**. **

They had not been there when it happened.

The _Isaac Newton_ was supposed to be the prototype of a new, improved generation of battleships to replace the aging fleet of the first hour; built with such desperate haste in an unbelievable joint effort of all nations of Earth. Almost ten years of research and development in facilities all over the world had been spent on this new construction, among other things resulting in a hyperdrive and navigation system superior to anything the Goa'uld could bring to bear. Unfortunately the new drive still required Naquadah to function, and the amount necessary for the assembly of more of the new ships proved too much for the always limited resources of the Tok'ra. They had, however, received intelligence - confirmed by spies of the Jaffa rebellion - of a shipment of the elusive element being prepared in a mining facility of the System Lord Cronus. The _Isaac Newton_, accompanied by two other ships of the fleet, was sent out to steal it.

Four days out into space they were called back when the satellite system detected five motherships of the Goa'uld hovering on the far side of the sun. The last transmission they received said the two remaining ships of the fleet, _Albert Einstein_ and _Zhang Heng,_ were retreating badly damaged, and the Gate would not dial. Then safety measures dropped them out of hyperspace before they could enter the sphere of influence of the newborn supernova.

"They stole Sam's idea, you know."

Rodney was poking listlessly at the grayish, porridge-like substance that posed as their mid-day meal. As it had the day before. And for dinner. Even for breakfast. Yesterday's question if they could get the MREs in Teyla's backpack instead had not gone down too well, though. He threw a disgusted look at Ronon who was shoveling the thing down with relish then clarified:

"Sam, Samantha Carter? She once blew up a sun by wrapping a Stargate in a force field, connecting it with one in close proximity of a black hole and sending her Gate into the star. After the anomaly had sucked enough matter of it through the wormhole the balance inside tipped and ... well."

Across the table Captain Sheppard swallowed a mouthful and grimaced. "Yeah, sounds like Major Carter. That woman always thought big. Our hyperdrive is based mostly on her calculations."

For a moment all eyes wandered to the stripes in all shades of blue behind the window of the meeting room. Not once in the past forty-two hours they had dissolved back to the star-sprinkled velvet of normal space. The ship just raced on and on, plowing its way through an endless cosmos void of any destination or beginning.

Turning her back on the oddly depressing sight Teyla's eyes wandered briefly across the three makeshift cots that had been added to the furnishing since Colonel McKay straight out refused to let them anywhere else on his ship. And no matter how angry they were about his decision - or Rodney complained about the damage done to his back - on some level they understood. A spaceship was desperately vulnerable in the face of any enemy who got inside undetected. A little manipulation of air circulation here, a leaking poisonous substance there, an overloading generator on the other side ... and outside waited nothing but cold, empty space.

Taking and swallowing a bit of her own food, not without suppressing a slight shudder because of the bitter aftertaste, Teyla quietly considered this reality's version of John Sheppard. The Captain seemed to be genuinely sorry about their confinement as well as their general situation and had made a point of joining them as often as his duties allowed; asking many questions about their universe and the people in it and offering little stories in return. She found him ... likable. She was also still quietly shocked from the moment he had rapped on his right leg just above the knee and it had not been the sound of flesh underneath. In true John-fashion he had smirked at their open mouths. It turned out, he had worked as a test pilot for the new navigation system of the _Isaac Newton_ when he had taken up an F-72 or Starhawk - their equivalent of the F-302 - for logging the necessary flight hours to keep his license for them. The engine failed, he crashed, lost the leg mid-thigh, broke both arms, several ribs and very nearly his spine. After four months in hospital, six in rehab and an honorable discharge from the U.S. Air Force, a bleak future of wistful staring at the sky was all that lay before him. Then Colonel McKay had started putting together his crew for the maiden mission of his ship, and in doing so gone over the test results of any pilot with experience with the new system. And though the authorities had been less than pleased by his choice, in the end they had succumbed to his wishes. Somehow Teyla was not surprised. The story also went a long way towards explaining the fierce loyalty this John Sheppard displayed for his cold commanding officer. If not for him ... he would not be alive.

"I think you have not yet told us about the two other ships dispatched for your original mission." She dipped her spoon in again. "Are they with us now?"

"No." Captain Sheppard's face darkened. "We lost the _Marie Curie_ right away. After we were forced to accept the truth of our sensor readings we set course for the Alpha Site; in hopes they had managed to get at least some people out and to unite with the personnel stationed there. I have no idea how the Goa'uld found the location but they had. They were already there, waiting for us in orbit. The _Curie_ was directly in their line of fire, she disintegrated before her crew ever got a chance to reach the ring transporters. We and the _Dmitri Mendeleyev_ barely escaped back into hyperspace."

He put his spoon down and clasped his hands, his voice bitter.

"After that we were more careful but Beta, Gamma and Delta Site were equally devastated. We had been on the run for two years when the hyperdrive of the _Mendeleyev_ started acting up. Too much stress on the materials, too long periods in hyperspace, too little supplies for maintenance. They always got the building overload back under control but it became clear we would not be able to keep this up forever. Then we ran into a trap near Chulak. We made it out but the strain on the engines was the final straw for the _Mendeleyev._ Their chief engineer, Radek Zelenka, somehow got them enough time to start their F-72s but an energy spike disabled the ring platforms after the first transports over to the _Newton_. We crammed in as many of the fighters as possible but with the overload and building radiation ... there was not enough time. Simply not enough time. To save at least those who had made it, and our own crew, the Colonel ordered to abandon the other ship and the rest of the fighter pilots. We still felt the shockwave of the explosion, even in hyperspace."

Teyla, Rodney and Ronon only stared at him, aghast.

"And Dr. Zelenka?" Teyla asked finally what was in the mind of them all.

Captain Sheppard just shook his head.

"Oh, no." Rodney actually looked miserable. "I mean it was a rather heroic way to go, standing your ground in the face of certain death and destruction, working tirelessly to safe your fellow crew members, kind of like me in the timeline of the old Dr. Weir, but Radek ... I mean... Oh."

"This is ... terrible." Impulsively Teyla reached out and touched Sheppard's hand. "I am so sorry."

"Yeah, so are we. And you don't even know half of it!" Sheppard jerked his hand away in sudden, flaring anger, shoved roughly at his plate, spilling the grayish porridge. "The food you eat? We steal it! We left Earth supplied for two months and now it has been six years! We are low on food, medicine, clothes, all things of body hygiene! The last hole in the hull we repaired with wings of an F-72! Three men lost fingers while figuring out how to make ammunition for our P-90s manually! You want to hear the truth? The truth - that is we have nowhere to go, no place to hide anywhere in this galaxy where the System Lords will not find us within a few hours, days at best!"

Teyla had drawn back, surprised by his sudden vehemence. "I would have thought the Tok'ra or the rebellious Jaffa -"

Sheppard cut her off. "The Tok'ra have been wiped out of existence and the Jaffa rebellion collapsed in on itself when most warriors were too darn proud, too darn _arrogant_ to follow Teal'c's young son Rya'c after his father and Bra'tac were captured and executed!"

"What?" Rodney only sputtered. "But - but - but - the Tok'ra? How -?"

"A new Goa'uld mind control technology they call z_a'tarc_." The captain fairly spat the name. "It allows them to sweep their ships or dwellings with a sort of hypnotic command that has anyone not loyal to their cause commit suicide. Or worse - makes them betray their brethren by giving up their secret bases and sometimes even destroying them themselves. The Tok'ra never stood a chance."

"But there are other advanced races in the Milky Way," Teyla tried again, "Rodney...?"

"Yes, yes, yes, the Tollan, the Nox, the Hebridians..."

"The Tollan home world was under a tight siege for decades, their Gate continuously dialed by two Goa'uld controlled Stargates until their sun turned supernova too, shortly after we lost Earth. If there are any Nox left they are so deep in hiding that no one will ever find them. I have never heard of a world or race called Hebridian. No." Captain Sheppard shook his head brusquely. "We stand alone."

"But the Asgard..."

"The Asgard are nothing more than a Jaffa legend. No one has seen them for many generations; no Goa'uld has ever been punished when they occupied worlds formerly under their protection. If they still exist in our reality, they do not care." Sheppard shrugged. "Or maybe they have been defeated by these machines you mentioned. Rap-something?"

"Replicators. We call them replicators." Rodney sounded dazed then suddenly he snapped his fingers. "Wait a second. You said the Goa'uld are able to find you anywhere you go? What, you mean literally?"

And in front of their eyes Sheppard's anger crumbled away, leaving nothing but despair in its wake, raw and open for anyone to see. The man dropped his face in his hands and exhaled deeply, his shoulders heaving once then twice. Finally he sat back up and looked at them in defeat.

"It's the hyperdrive," he said simply. "Our wonderful new hyperdrive that has saved us already countless times with its speed and endurance and efficiency ... and that also creates a subspace ripple, unmistakable as a fingerprint, every time we open a hyperspace window. And there is nothing, absolutely _nothing_ we can do about it except tear it all out and rebuild an old drive from scratch."

"They triangulate your position whenever you leave hyperspace." Rodney looked horrified, baffled by the implications of this. "Anywhere in this galaxy."

Sheppard nodded exhausted in the heavy silence.

"Anywhere in this galaxy," Ronon said suddenly, speaking up for the first time.

"Yes, anywhere in this galaxy," Captain Sheppard repeated tiredly. Then he looked around. "What?"


	7. The Road Taken

Disclaimer: The Stargate universe belongs to MGM et al. - this is for fun, no copyright infringement is intended.

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**- Alternate reality. Earth, Stargate Command. **

John watched in morbid fascination as this reality's Doctor Jennifer Keller tapped the flesh of his arm routinely, deftly caught the vein with the needle and started drawing his blood into the transparent tube. Truth to be told, he found this version of her a bit ... creepy. Same blond hair in a ponytail, same thin face but no ready smile that sometimes came across a bit sheepish, no compassion in her eyes... She kind of reminded him of the top-grade physicians engaged in heavy-money research he used to meet at his father's tea parties: Brilliant, outstanding and looking right through you as if you were no more than a donator for interesting specimens for their test tubes.

"Hey, doc, don't you get fed up with staring at my DNA on a computer screen by now?"

It was meant light-heartedly but all he got for his trouble was a blank look and the instruction to keep pressure on the red spot on his arm for a few minutes before Keller carried her crop away. What just proved his point. Grimacing John did as he was told.

To donate his blood for their research on the ATA-gene had not exactly been on his to-do list when he agreed to share some of his knowledge two days ago - but since they appeared so eager to help them get back it had seemed petty to deny them this little favor. The rest of his stay had thankfully been more entertaining, however. Especially the astonished faces of the scientists as he made some of the Ancient artifacts they had collected light up like Christmas trees on steroids had almost been as good as watching Rodney when he got giddy over a new toy. And they had let him spend the best part of yesterday afternoon on the shooting range with Sergeant Siler. Now _that_ had been pretty cool. They got some seriously interesting weaponry in this universe, giving even Ronon's blaster a run for its money, no kidding, really. If they let him do that more often he wouldn't mind if Zelenka took a little longer still to transport them back to their own reality. Now that they were reasonably sure the settings on the device had been changed before the second activation. Though he honestly didn't understand what was wrong with his suggestion to take the Stargate back to Pegasus and visit the planet with the hidden facility once more. The little Czech had gotten all flustered on the phone when he had brought it up during his second call-in, stuttering like a teenager caught out lying through his teeth by his parents. Huh, maybe he was having the time of his life with the gadgets stored away in this Area 51 and just didn't want to admit it.

"Uh, Colonel Sheppard?"

John flinched violently, startling poor Daniel Jackson enough to take a hasty step back, nearly dropping the stack of books and notepads he always seemed to carry around.

"Oh, hi, doc." And John really, really couldn't help it if his voice considerably lacked enthusiasm. "Time for our next session already?"

"Ah, uh, yes, that is, if you don't mind, I mean..."

"No, no, it's fine." John disposed of the little wad and swung his legs off the infirmary bed. "All blood-thirsty vampires are sated and satisfied, we are good to go, see?"

Jackson looked briefly unsure what to make of John's sarcastic remark then smiled hesitantly, his eyes owlish behind the round glasses. Sheppard sighed inwardly and wondered if the Daniel Jackson of their SGC had been equally ... strange ... in his early years before General O'Neill took him under his wing and chopped off some of the more irritating behavior. Although, on second thought, Jackson could still be pretty irritating if his one visit to Atlantis was anything to go by, and no, he did not want to go there right now so he twirled his hand in an inviting gesture.

"Well, lead the way."

Dr. Jackson scrambled for the exit and John, in passing, threw a charming smile in the general direction where Keller was bent over his newest blood sample. She ignored him.

"Colonel, I was wondering about a point you mentioned earlier concerning the race you call the - uh - Genii." Jackson tried to open one of his books without scattering the countless paper scraps and notes tugged between the pages. It didn't help that he tended to be jostled rather frequently by other personnel passing them in the corridors. "You said they... You said they were about five years away from designing their first working atomic bomb when you first met them ... met them four years back?"

"Give or take." John snatched a crumpled picture of some phallus-like artifact from the floor and resolutely relieved the struggling doctor of half of his burden.

"Oh - uhm - thank you. So..."

"You know what surprises me a little bit, doc?" Sheppard interrupted before Jackson could get back into stride. "Somehow I get the impression that any culture of the Pegasus Galaxy I mention seems new to you. How is that? Have you done no exploring at all over there?"

"Well..." Jackson trailed off and clutched his remaining books closer, his eyes darting nervously to all sides, "No, not really. You see, we kind of established Atlantis as a listening post into the Pegasus affairs only. The database of the city is so huge in itself that it was decided... I mean... Considering the situation with the... We still have no more than scratched the surface of possible explorations in the Milky Way and so..."

"Where you never encountered the Ori and the Goa'uld no longer pose a problem," John supplied helpfully. And there it was again, this strange little hesitation in Jackson's reaction whenever he brought up the snake-like parasites.

"Yes," the doctor agreed finally. He carefully avoided looking at Sheppard.

John made a small non-committal sound. The Jackson of his reality had lost his wife to the Goa'uld, he knew that much. Was it the same in this reality? Was it enough to explain Jackson's odd evasiveness of the subject? He didn't know what to think and this made him decidedly uneasy. What was more, he kind of _liked_ the jumpy, twitchy scientist walking beside him. Not the way he liked McKay - God, Jackson would probably faint at the first harsh word - and not the way he liked Zelenka who gave as good as he got after years of working with Rodney... It was all very confusing and frustrating.

"You heard anything new from Area 51?" he asked to change the subject. "Seems I was in the shower when Zelenka last called this morning. Or at least Davis said so when he came begging for another blood sample."

Jackson's eyes flitted over to him and away again. He opened his mouth then bit his lips. And for a split second almost painful indecision showed on his face, bringing John to a sharp stop.

"Jackson?"

"No." Jackson shook his head frantically. "No, no I have not -"

"Jackson, what are you not telling me?"

"N-nothing. I..."

"You _know_ something." Sheppard stepped forward, trapping the squirming man against the wall, face to face, armful of books against armful of books. "What is it? Is Zelenka OK? Have they found something? Did anything happen? TELL ME, damn it!"

Jackson's eyes shot desperately back and forth and then suddenly fixed on him with unexpected intensity.

"_Not here!_" he hissed, his gaze searching for something above Sheppard's head.

John turned sharply and stared up at the security camera in the corner, the red light beside the lens glowing threateningly down on them. Something very cold took up residence in his stomach as he glanced up and down the corridor, noticing the curious stares directed at them although most people were thankfully too far away to have overheard much. With great effort he plastered on an apologetic smile and patted Jackson's arm.

"Sorry, doc," he announced extra loud, the fake smile hurting his face, "Touchy subject there for me, didn't mean to get so harsh."

"Oh, oh, not at all, it was my fault." Jackson, too, was speaking a bit louder than usual. "I should not have ... that was very tactless of me, I apologize."

Grinning at each other like complete fools they continued down the corridor, past the still curious looks of the military personnel. John's heart was hammering in his throat, making an extra jump anytime his gaze was drawn by one of the many, many security cameras lining their way. Oh, God, he should have known. He should have _known_ it was too good to be true. Stargate Command was absolutely paranoid about strangers in his own reality how could he have been so naïve to believe it would be any different here? Of all stupid things... Never before had John been so glad to enter Jackson's cramped little lab as he was now.

"Ahm... Here. This is - this is something I wanted to show you for some time now..."

Still speaking rather loudly for the benefit of the open door Jackson piled his books on the stacks of others already there and pulled a stiff roll out of the chaos. Turning to a side table he straightened out a large photograph of a stone plate with signs engraved all over it. It looked absolutely unintentional that this way they ended up standing with their backs to the security camera high up in a corner.

"Okay, that's - er - interesting..." John announced with a quick glance over his shoulder then added in a much quieter voice, "Jackson?"

Jackson hesitated, his breath coming fast and irregular.

"Oh, come on! Don't freeze up on me now!"

"They won't let you go!" The first whispered outburst seemed to have broken a dam because Jackson's barely audible words were coming faster and faster. "They want the ATA-gene you have, they want it badly. In this reality you are dead, killed twenty years ago when you got under a truck while speeding on the highway. Your body was cremated as were your parents when they died of old age and your brother does not have it, you are their only available source!"

"What? I..." Sheppard had kind of a hard time stomaching this, it didn't happen all day someone told you your youthful foolhardiness had had dire consequences. "But I'm not the only gene carrier in this reality! Dr. Beckett and General O'Neill..."

"After his retirement Jack, I mean Colonel O'Neill, moved up into the mountains," Jackson interrupted, still whispering frantically, "They are trying to find him but I don't think he _wants_ to be found. And Dr. Beckett - Dr. Beckett - if we are talking about the same Scottish doctor he is dead too. He was one of the foremost voices protesting against the violation of human rights by the U.S government. Last year he was arrested and later executed for treason."

"_Carson_?" John's head spun, it was as if the whole world was coming apart around him. "Violation of human rights? Jackson!"

"_Not so loud!_" Jackson ground out desperately. "You don't understand. You have no idea what it is like - now."

"Good God, then _tell me!_"

Dr. Jackson clenched his fists, pain and frustration and something else, something bitter warring on his face. Finally he shook his head, his word tumbling over one another in their haste.

"A bit more than half a year after I came back from Abydos to participate in the new Stargate program we found a group of people on a dying planet. They were Tollan, of a civilization far more advanced than ours. Originally we - the Stargate Center, General Hammond, Jack, Sam, Teal'c and I - were trying to find them a new world to live in because they refused to stay, calling us too primitive and not ready to handle their advanced technology without endangering ourselves. The government had other plans. Colonel Maybourne of the NID came and took the Tollan into their custody. I have no idea what they did with them to get them to cooperate but within a few months NID labs started churning out new weapon technology so advanced that any comparison with what we had up to this point was simply ridiculous."

Jackson paused and breathed heavily, his voice trembling as he continued.

"As for the SGC - we had been too outspoken about our opinion of the decision of the government. General Hammond received order by the President himself to ground SG1 for the time being. When he protested he got reassigned, General Bauer was his replacement. He and Jack clashed right from the start, and in the end Jack was strongly advised to take his leave once again. He was angry enough that he complied. Teal'c saw no perspective in staying on Earth after this, he left and we never heard from him again. Sam... Sam was young, a soldier and also a scientist, I - I guess at some point she realized she would have to play by their rules or fall hopelessly behind on the work of her colleagues..."

John felt like the lens of the security camera was slowly but surly drilling a hole in his back. He gritted his teeth, barely moving his lips.

"What else?"

"The - the Tollan have a ground based weapon they call ion cannon, the NID adapted their design to fit into a satellite belt around Earth. The other nations had already started asking all kinds of questions about the frequent rocket launches to get them all into orbit, Russia one of the most insistent, when Apophis finally attacked. The fireworks of the destruction of his motherships did not go unnoticed. Russia felt threatened, they broke off all communication, got their long-distance bombers in the air, armed their rocket bases ... the - the government felt it had no choice. It..."

"Ordered a first strike," breathed Sheppard, feeling cold. "With the Tollan satellites."

"Yes." Jackson swallowed hard. "They did not target their cities directly; they targeted their military facilities, their submarine and rocket bases ... their nuclear reactors. The radioactive fallout extinguished most life from Siberia to Berlin, from Norway down to India. After that ... and after the government sent teams with the advanced medical technology of the Tollan to help those countries making the right statements ... no one dared to speak up again."

Sheppard slowly became aware that he was gripping the edge of the table so hard, his fingers hurt. He felt detached, surreal, sick. He wanted to call Jackson a liar, wanted to protest that something like that was simply not possible in his country, would never have been possible in the country he knew and served... But he had read the report about the Tollan on Rodney's relentless prodding, had read how close it had been to ending like this Jackson had described... One false step with the best of intentions and suddenly there was no stopping on the once taken road.

"Where is Doctor Zelenka?" he ground out.

Jackson looked miserable. "They hold him several levels up, near the surface labs."

"You must help me get him out. You must help us get access to the Stargate so we can dial Pegasus."

"No. No, I - I can't. I _can't_! I - I can't risk... _You don't understand!_" Jackson shook his head wildly, eyes wide with panic. "We - we did not defeat the Goa'uld. We made a deal with them. They let us be and we don't interfere on worlds under their control. But maybe one day ... one day when we have mastered enough Ancient technology that will change again and I can't - I can't risk my position here - I... The Goa'uld took my wife, Sha're, she is host of Apophis's queen, Amonet, and the Stargate - the Stargate is the only chance I'll ever have to find her again!"

Sheppard grabbed his arm with brutal force. "If you truly believe that then you also believe they actually let Teal'c _GO_ despite all his knowledge of Earth!"

"No," Jackson whispered frantically, he was drawing back, still shaking his head, refusing, clinging to disbelief, "They can not - they have not, I can't believe that..."

"Oh, am I interrupting something?"

Sheppard and Jackson whipped around, staring at Major Davis suddenly standing in the doorway. The gaze of the smooth officer became more intense, his voice a low purr, the threat only inches underneath the surface.

"Dr. Jackson...?"

"Uh - uh- uh - no. No you are not. Not at all." Fumbling with his glasses Jackson scooped up the large photograph and brandished it with shaking hands. "I-I-I was just showing Colonel Sheppard pictures of the stone plate inscribed with the gate address of Atlantis we found buried in the center of Stonehenge."

"Stone-" John stopped himself just in time. "Yeah! Yeah, that's right! I - Thank you, doctor, it was very ... interesting."

"I see." Davis's eyes jumped from one to the other then he smiled, his pleasant, winning, meaningless smile. "Well, sorry to disturb you but, Colonel Sheppard, Dr. Lam would be really grateful if you could provide her with a functioning Ancient medical scanner again for maybe half an hour?"

John sought Jackson's eyes but the archeologist stubbornly avoided looking in his direction. Turning back to Davis he had to suppress a shudder, wondering how he could have ever missed the calculation hidden in his gaze.

"Sure," he drawled, forcing a shadow of his normal easy grin on his face, "Nothing I'd rather do."

And as Davis stepped out to lead the way Sheppard mused that maybe he had made a mistake by being blinded by the familiar uniform, by not looking deep enough ... but right now the major had made an even bigger one: to underestimate the dangerous light he was sure had just shown briefly in his own eyes.


	8. Courage

Disclaimer: The Stargate universe belongs to MGM et al. - this is for fun, no copyright infringement is intended.

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**- Alternate reality. **_**Isaac Newton**_**. **

"Enter," Colonel McKay murmured distractedly when the door signal chimed, his eyes fixed alternately on the screen of his board terminal and the external laptop also open on his desk. Finally he glanced up. "John. What is it?"

"Colonel..."

When Captain Sheppard didn't continue McKay looked up again, studying the other man's face then leaned back with a sigh.

"They really got you bad with this hare-brained idea, didn't they?" He sounded half resigned, half annoyed. "I already said no at the staff meeting. It's still no."

"But if Doctor McKay is really able to modify our hyperdrive for intergalactic space travel..."

"I will not let anybody I don't know near our hyperdrive!" McKay interrupted sharply. Then his expression softened somewhat. "John, they just want to go home. They would grasp at any straws to accomplish that no matter it'd be us to pay the price."

"Well, of course they want to go home, who wouldn't in their situation? Except for us, maybe." Sheppard spread his arms. "But fact is - they do have a point! The System Lords will not be able to follow us across the void, and if Atlantis is just half the things they told me about it... The whole city is a spaceship, for heaven's sake. With weapon technology we can only dream about."

"Hello?" McKay waved a hand. "We are talking about going to the Pegasus Galaxy, here. And I distinctly remember you repeating tales of a race of live-sucking space vampires being the dominant species there. Yeah, that definitely sounds like a vast improvement."

"All right, that part I'm not so fond of either, but since we never found Atlantis the way they did - we never woke them all up! The majority of the Wraith will still be hibernating! And with the knowledge Dr. McKay, Ms. Emmagan and Specialist Dex can give us we will be able to avoid most of their mistakes! Things can go very differently for us."

"And that is exactly why the answer is still no!" The Colonel stood in growing anger. "We have no idea what Pegasus is like in this reality. We might be facing a galaxy ruled by those machines with artificial intelligence, the Replicators. The Athosians might no longer exist. Or what if this great city they go on and on about has not survived ten thousand years on the bottom of an ocean?"

"Well, it can't be worse there than it is here!" Sheppard's voice was rising in anger too.

"At least here we know where we stand!"

"Yeah, on the edge, one second from falling off!"

"There is still a chance -"

"_For what?_" barked Sheppard, "How long do you think we can keep running?"

"At least we are not running away! And we are but one step from rekindling the Jaffa rebellion -"

"Oh, yes, because the ambush on that planet the other day is _so_ encouraging in that regard!"

"_I said no!_" McKay slammed his hand on the desk. "We are not there yet!"

"Right! And if I had ejected sooner I would still have my _LEG_!"

Captain Sheppard looked as shocked as the Colonel by his last outburst. Exhaling shakily he raked both hands through his hair. McKay's hard face softened almost imperceptibly.

"John..."

"Look." Sheppard abruptly jerked his head back up, leaning imploringly forward on the desk. "All I'm saying is that I have seen this before. Heck, I have done it! Pilots staying on too long, trying and trying to get their plane back under control right until they hit the ground. I - just - don't - want you - to make - the same - mistake!"

"Out," said McKay flatly.

For a long second Sheppard stared at him in helpless frustration then abruptly spun on his heel as well as he could, stalking to the door. The Colonel watched him go with barely concealed fury. A muscle ticked along his tightly clenched jaw. The moment the door had closed behind the other man he reached out and violently slammed the laptop shut. Only to wince and quickly open it back up, checking for damage. His hand froze on the keyboard.

Staring down at the strangely fragile, now irreplaceable construction of plastic and metal he traced one finger along its outline. His face became grim. Then he abruptly, angrily shook his head and circled around the desk to start pacing up and down in the small space of his office; four steps forward, four steps back, faster and faster the darker his face became until he finally threw himself backwards against one of the walls with a curse. He breathed deeply.

All was silent except for the gentle, ever-present thrum of the engines far away, the nearly inaudible whisper of air circulation, a deep vibration pulsing through one speaking of speed and strain and endless space. Closing his eyes Colonel McKay placed his palm flat against the cool material of the wall.

Steel and plastic and wiring. Flesh and blood and bone in between. All finite, all pushed to the breaking point and beyond for six long, terrible years. Hearts and faith and courage given willingly, more than could ever be asked, more than could ever be expected. A burden heavier than a world that was no more. Taking a shuddering breath Colonel Meredith Rodney McKay slowly reached into his left breast pocket and carefully unfolded the mangled photograph he kept there.

The woman with the blond, curly hair was talking, laughing, sun on her face; the sparkle in her eyes, the flying hands defying the boundaries of the snapshot.

The _Isaac Newton_ was humming softly on her race through hyperspace.

Colonel McKay dropped his head and gently, so very gently folded the photo back up. His voice was but a whisper.

"I'm sorry, Jeannie."

* * *

**- Alternate reality. Earth, Stargate Command. **

The tiny red light of the security camera was mocking him, taunting him in its unwavering attention. Keeping his eyes no more than slits John watched it silently, outstretched on his bed as if he had fallen asleep fully clothed but wound tight as a spring underneath.

To get through the rest of the day without jumping the next guard he met and trying to force his way up to Zelenka's level was one of the hardest things he had ever done. But he had seen enough of the security measures of this reality's SGC to know he would not even get close to the Czech scientist. For the same reason he had quickly skipped his original plan to reach the Stargate. Impossible to get first all those levels up and then down again without being detected. But maybe he didn't need to.

Shifting his hooded gaze briefly over to the door and back to the camera again Sheppard tried to control his restlessness. Stonehenge. They had found the address of Atlantis at Stonehenge. He thanked any unexpected strand of luck that had prevented Jackson and him from covering the subject before. Since they had found the address at Stonehenge, since their universe had taken such a vastly different path after they met the Tollan, since their alien based generator technology made a need for Z.P.M.s unnecessary ... chances were good they had never found the Ancient outpost underneath the Antarctic ice. And then maybe, just maybe, they had never found the second, the original Stargate down there either. If he could just get free, if he could just find Zelenka and slip from the mountain, find a plane or other means of travel ... if, if, if ... if only Jackson would help them. Well, he was not but that was not going to stop them.

Again John's eyes cut briefly to the door and back to the camera again. At night was his best chance if he had any at all. And he had to act fast. Davis got suspicious; it was only a matter of time until they restricted his freedom of movements. Not that they would be able to hold up their little charade much longer anyway. John's stomach churned to think about what measures they might have used to direct Radek's calls. He had never thought he would ever be grateful for the time he had spent at the SGC when Helia and her crew had chased them out of Atlantis but now the knowledge about the complex he had gathered then just might give him the edge he needed to -

The red light of the camera rippled, and went off with a faint pop.

John blinked and lifted his head. The next second he was scrambling upright and back because the far wall ... _moved_, billowed, like a curtain in the wind or the long swell of the ocean, and then Daniel Jackson stepped through it as if it was really no more than liquid or air, clutching a small box and a bundle of cloth to his chest.

For a long moment the two men just stared at each other. Jackson swallowed convulsively.

"Have I found my wife in your universe?"

Sheppard's hesitation was barely existent.

"Yes."

It was not really a lie.

Jackson took a deep breath, his pained face hardening with resolve. He threw the bundle of clothes on the bed.

"Put these on. Quickly."

* * *

**- Alternate reality. **_**Isaac Newton**_**. **

Rodney was not nervous as he was escorted down a corridor, up in a lift and along another corridor. Nervous was not nearly enough to cover what he felt since the guards had shown up to bring him to the Colonel. Embarrassing as it was to be intimidated by oneself but the man had threatened to shoot Teyla after all. He'd rather they gave him back Rod any day despite the man's attempt to usurp his friends. Of course it didn't help that this was probably their only chance of ever getting home again. Rodney desperately tried to remember the well-formulated arguments Teyla had used to convince Captain Sheppard of going to Pegasus. Saving one galaxy first then returning to help the other, here people devoted to their false gods there people united in their fight against the Wraith, and all that. Not to mention Atlantis and its technology - that had been his part. Oh, and Ronon's rather solemn statement that running was not living. That had been really weird. And Sheppard had taken to the idea that much had been obvious but the Colonel had not even come to discuss it with them... Until the two guards had shown up in the middle of Sheppard's resigned return to fetch Rodney, one of whom had just stopped in front of a door and sounded the buzzer. Rodney's hands suddenly felt sweaty.

_"Yes?" _

"Dr. McKay is here, sir." The guard spoke with strong Russian accent, prove of the integration of the survivors of the lost _Dmitri Mendeleyev _into this ship's crew.

_"Send him in." _

To Rodney's surprise piano music - Chopin, as he instantly recognized with an unexpected pang - was playing in Colonel McKay's office, startling him enough to stop just past the door that closed with a faint hiss after him. His alternate self sat comfortably settled back in his chair behind the desk, face tilted up to the ceiling, seemingly lost in the music. After a few minutes Rodney nervously cleared his throat.

"You - uh - wanted to see me?"

Instead of answering Colonel McKay pointed vaguely at the one chair on Rodney's side of the desk, and after a brief hesitation the scientist awkwardly followed the invitation and sat. And against his will he felt drawn in by the performance of the artist, found himself go up in the flow of notes as if it had not been years and years, as if he had not spent all this time determined to forget, determined to rid himself of what had once been his passion, his escape. Colonel McKay's low murmur was nearly lost in the music.

"Do you play, Dr. McKay?"

Startled once again Rodney looked over and saw that the other man was watching him with hooded eyes. He shifted uneasily.

"Well, I ... I used to. But when I was twelve my teacher told me to stop. A ... 'a fine clinical player but no sense of the real art.' That's what I was told."

"Strange." The Colonel reached out and hit a key on his terminal, stopping the music. The room still and empty without it. He allowed the back of his chair to become upright again and finally turned to face Rodney fully. "My teacher once told me the exact same thing. It never stopped me though."

"Oh."

Rodney looked down at his hands. He swallowed thickly then abruptly sat forward.

"OK, look. I know you don't think much of me and that's all right since I'm not so fond of you either because, hello? You wasted our genius on the _military_? Although Captain Sheppard explained how that came to be with the whole 'suing the Canadian government at the age of thirteen for custody of Jeannie after our parents died' thing, and - honestly? - this whole campaign of making them greedy for your brains by flattening any chess champion in the world with great fanfare as well as your other publicity-heavy projects so they would make a deal with you in the end that - now _that_ was just brilliant, really, but anyway, what I wanted to say was..." He placed both hands flat on the table and firmly met the Colonel's gaze (whose eyebrows had nearly reached the hairline by now). "I can do this. I mean I can really do this. Modify your hyperdrive. And while I'm the first one to admit that Pegasus is no piece of cake to live in ... what do you have to loose?"

For what seemed like a long, long time the two men looking so perfectly alike on the outside regarded each other across the desk. Colonel McKay cool and assessing, Rodney with his very own stubborn determination. It was the Colonel who looked away first, his eyes wandering to a plastic CD cover beside the keyboard Rodney only now noticed. The other man picked it up, turning it slowly in his hands, then put it back down so it was sitting upright on the desktop, one finger holding it in balance.

"We have," he said slowly, "eleven classic CDs, some Heavy Metal, a variety of Rock, Pop - up to and including, God help us, The Spice Girls - as well as some spiritual meditation thing that is grating on my nerves. We have a couple of books, non of them great literature except for nine Bibles and one Koran; a bunch of magazines, most of them starting to fall apart; and more comics than I want to admit. We have one guitar, one flute."

Pausing he gave the cover a little push. It made a sharp clapping noise as it fell. His cold eyes lifted suddenly.

"What we have lost," he continued more sharply, "is the knowledge to build a grand piano, an oboe, even an African drum. What we have lost are the art of Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Picasso, the music of Japan, dances performed in India, the skills of the natives of South America and Australia. What we have lost is the recipe for true French baguette, how to make Swiss cheese or distill Scotch whisky, how to plant rice in terraces as well as the means to weave cloth for a simple shirt."

Rodney did not know what to say.

Colonel McKay's lips suddenly twitched in a bitter little smile. He tapped the radio in his ear.

"McKay to Novak."

_"Novak here, sir?" _

"Captain, I will send one of our ... guests down to engineering. I expect you to show him anything he wants to know about our hyperdrive or any other technology on this ship, and I want you to be open to any suggestions he may make to improve it."

Rodney's shocked "You go with it?" sounded as baffled as Novak's astonished _"Sir?" _over the com system.

Again that strange smile flitted around the corner of the Colonel's mouth.

"You have your orders, Novak. McKay out." He dropped his hand from the radio.

"Uhm ... thank you," Rodney said after a small pause, still baffled.

"See I don't regret it." Colonel McKay's eyes held no warmth. "There are three hundred and six people on this ship, Dr. McKay, all depending on a functional hyperdrive to stay alive. And this does include you and your teammates."

"Right." Rodney blanched a bit at the thinly veiled threat. Then he collected himself. "Speaking of my teammates..."

"They will be released. But since this whole thing was your idea I expect them to give some very detailed information to my people."

"Yes, yes, yes, of course." The most urgent matter solved Rodney's mind had already turned to the task at hand. In fact he was already out of his chair and on his way to the door, running first calculations in his head. The Colonel's sharp call brought him up short.

"Dr. McKay! I'd appreciate having an approximate timetable for this."

Rodney turned slowly.

"Oh. Yes. About that..." He swallowed. "There is something I should probably tell you."

Colonel McKay narrowed his eyes.


	9. Jump

Disclaimer: The Stargate universe belongs to MGM et al. - this is for fun, no copyright infringement is intended.

**

* * *

**

**- Alternate reality. Earth, Stargate Command. **

'These' turned out a baggy, oversized marine's uniform and John wasted no time but started pulling it roughly over his own clothes. Forcing his boots through the pant legs he glanced at Jackson.

"What's the plan, doc?"

"I can't bring you anywhere near the Stargate, security is too tight on that level." Jackson was literally wringing his hands. "But they brought one of those Gate Ships back from Atlantis, it's in one of the labs two levels above Dr. Zelenka. So far it hasn't responded to anything they did to it but I thought with your gene..."

"A Puddle Jumper!" Sheppard's eyes lit up - there was his means of transport and one he would not have dared hope for.

"Puddle ... Jumper?" Jackson repeated confused. "Oh! Oh, you mean - puddle, the water-like event horizon, and jumper because you sort of jump through it with the ship? That's ... actually very clever." He abruptly shook his head and fluttered his hands. "But - but as I said, you will not be able to reach the Stargate with it. I was sort of hoping the Gate Ship, I mean Puddle Jumper, has a hyperdrive or something and..."

"Forget that, doc, it doesn't," John interrupted, "Does Antarctica ring any bells for you?"

Jackson looked at him as if he had lost his mind. "Besides Cold, Unfriendly, and Penguins?"

John flashed a smile as he buckled the belt. "No offence, but that's just the answer I wanted to hear. We'll need supplies."

"Right." Jackson still looked a bit doubtful of Sheppard's state of mind but had obviously decided to play along. Fumbling a notepad out of his jacket he peered at it. "I don't have much money with me and they'll block my credit cards as soon as they find out I helped you, so I checked some of those names you mentioned. There was no Canadian scientist by the name of Rodney McKay or a Jeannie, Caleb and Madison Miller but what I did find was the address of a Jean and Meredith McKay registered in Vancouver."

John grunted as he zipped up the jacket, not liking the odds of that. Rodney would never go by his first name. This reality's Richard Woolsey wasn't an option too, the man still being a bloodhound for the NID. So it was time for desperate measures.

"What about Dr. Weir?"

Jackson swallowed visibly and lowered his eyes. "Dr. - Dr. Elisabeth Weir was in Moscow when things started to get out of control. She was ordered back but refused, believing she would be able to convince the Russians to open up a dialog again. She was still there when..."

Sheppard froze in the act of putting on the cap. His mouth became a thin line.

"Yeah," he whispered softly, "She was that kind of woman."

Tugging the cap firmly down his forehead he turned off the small bedside lamp and carefully but quickly made his way over to the other man. Jackson looked pale in the faint light coming through the little window of the door.

"Now what?"

"Take my arm."

Pursing his lips John did as told. He could just make out Jackson's shadowy hand as the man raised the small box he still carried and pushed a button. The wall seemed to take a deep breath, the movement more felt than seen, and taking a deep breath of his own John stepped forward the moment Jackson did, suddenly grateful for the darkness that didn't let him see too clearly. Then he felt something sliding over him - no, _through_ him - an acute sense of molecules and atoms and _oh, this is what makes the cosmos tick_ ... and abruptly gasped when they emerged on the other side into an equally dark room.

"Wow!"

"Yes, that... sums it up pretty well." Jackson chuckled nervously then sobered and continued in an urgent whisper. "Follow me down the corridor. They will have detected the camera failure in your room by now but hopefully won't notice the one in here until they find you gone. We must hurry."

In response John patted his arm twice. He could feel the tenseness underneath his hand. But Jackson crossed the unlit storage room resolutely enough. Giving the other man a head start of ten seconds he followed him through the door, squinting a bit in the uncomfortably bright light outside. It had to be close to midnight but a surprising number of people were still making their way through the labyrinth of corridors under Cheyenne Mountain. Lowering his head so the shade of the cap hid his features Sheppard picked up his pace.

Under the bill he could just make out Jackson's back as he turned a corner, the few second he was out of sight an eternity. John felt his breath coming faster. He had to slow down when a group of scientists in white lab coats passed him on their way in the other direction, their arguing voices following him down the corridor. In front Jackson again disappeared in an intersection, and when he finally reached it also he saw him just enter an elevator. Sheppard's strides lengthened. Jackson had turned in the cabin, a hand moving up the controls. And a female marine strode out of a side corridor and joint him. Sheppard saw the gleam of panic in Jackson's wide eyes as she said something to him and then pushed one of the buttons. The doors started sliding shut. The two men stared at each other through the narrowing gap, all John could think of being that he did not know exactly how many levels he needed to go up ... the female marine thrust her arm out, bringing the doors to a grinding stop.

"Up?"

"Up." Entering the cabin John gave her a thin-lipped smile. "Thanks."

She gave a short nod in return. The doors slid shut and the elevator started its ascent. John forced himself to breathe evenly through his nose. Jackson had closed his eyes. The marine was standing at some sort of parade rest, her gaze up to the ceiling. The elevator continued climbing with an occasional groan. Six levels up. Seven levels up. Eight levels up. It came to a stop and the marine stepped out. The doors closed again. Nine levels up. Ten. Jackson looked positively sick. Somehow Sheppard felt not much better despite all his combat training and experience. If only he had a weapon. The elevator slowed and stopped again.

"Turn left, then the second right and right again," Jackson mumbled out of the corner of his mouth as the doors opened.

They had barely made more than three steps in the appointed direction when an alarm started blaring. Sheppard spat a curse and gave the other man a hard shove.

"Screw that! Go! Go!"

Dashing through the corridors they skidded around a corner into a dead end where a startled guard turned to meet them.

"Hey, you know what's going -?"

Sheppard tackled him like it was a football match, one shoulder solidly in the man's guts so he was lifted off his feet and slammed into the next wall. The impact was hard enough for John to see stars too but he still had the element of surprise, using it ruthlessly. They both went down as the guard slumped to the floor, unconscious, with the Colonel on top of him.

"The card!" Jackson was shouting frantically to make himself heard over the wailing siren. "Take his card! Before they lock the cells down!"

Ripping with flying fingers through the man's pockets Sheppard threw himself at the door and jerked the smooth plastic through the card reader. A green light flashed, turning red a split second after the lock had popped open. Caught off balance Sheppard fell through the door and flat on his face. The dark figure cowering at the far wall yelped and scrambled back into a corner.

"Ow, damn it." Wincing Sheppard picked himself up again and hurried across the dark cell. "Hey, hey! Radek! It's OK, it's me, Sheppard! It -"

He froze with his hands inches from the other man when he got a first good look at him. A breath caught in his throat.

"Oh God, those bastards..."

"C-Colonel Sheppard?" Zelenka blinked with frightened, naked eyes, the vivid bruises on his face standing out starkly in the ray of light falling in through the door. Rust-colored smudges on his chin and clothes told of a heavy nosebleed. His feet were bare. "They - they took my glasses. They took my glasses."

As if it were the most important thing in the world.

"Yeah." Sheppard's voice broke a little. He swallowed hard and gently touched the shaking hands. "Come on, doc. Come on. I'll get you out of here."

Pulling Zelenka's thin arm over his shoulder he managed to lift the other man off the floor, ignoring the sour smell of an unwashed body. The Czech was swaying badly but gamely put one foot in front of the other, squinting against the light with a still bewildered expression. John felt white-hot fury rise as he noted the uncovered bucket in another corner. Daniel Jackson took one look at his face as they emerged out of the cell and backed against the wall.

"Lead the way." John could only speak through gritted teeth. "And give me his weapon."

The gun of the guard felt good in his hand as they half dragged, half carried the Czech down the corridor, Jackson having taken the man's other arm without a word, slipping around a corner just as reinforcement pounded towards the cells. The red light of lockdown glowed at the entrance of the staircase but Jackson's little magic box took care of that. John took it as a good sign that while Radek stumbled repeatedly on their journey two levels up he still found the strength to exclaim over it. The next moment they stepped through a billowing wall into a wide hall that definitely did NOT exist in his reality, and at the end of it beckoned the familiar cylindrical shape of a Jumper. And still the alarm wailed and wailed, confused, shouting voices joining it, cameras moving jerkily on their sockets.

"Go for it, go!" John started to run, dragging the scientists with him then pushing them ahead as he jerked his gun up, swinging it around searchingly. "Darn it, Radek, move!" He fired a rapid series of shots as two soldiers barreled around a huge container, forcing them back behind its cover. The projectiles of his weapon exploded on impact, ripping fist-sized, ugly holes in the thick metal. "MOVE!"

A bullet whizzed past his head and he turned running, taking down the marine positioned up on a catwalk, the boy falling with a shriek until he hit the ground with a very final thud. More uniforms poured through a door at the side, ducking behind crates and odd equipment but they were almost there, almost across the hall, running flat out towards the lowered hatch of the Jumper and there were enough things to give them cover from the furious fire of the incoming soldiers...

"DANIEL!"

Jackson whirled and skidded to an abrupt stop at his shouted name, sending the unsteady Zelenka crashing to the ground. The Czech gave a sharp cry of pain as his momentum carried him a few feet across the floor.

"Damn it, Jackson!" Sheppard nearly crashed himself as he stooped beside the downed scientist. Then he, too, froze as he followed the direction of Jackson's gaze and saw the blond woman standing in a gap between some crates.

"Sam," whispered Daniel.

And Sergeant Siler stepped out from behind her and shot him.

John shouted as the archaeologist was flung backwards, instinctively reaching to catch the falling man and going down hard under his weight. His arms closed over warm wetness. As if in slow motion he felt the man slump in his grip, the head with the wide open yet unseeing eyes sinking sideways. Lifting his gaze in disbelief he looked at the woman with the hard face still standing there, watching her former teammate die.

"Colonel!"

Zelenka's desperate call shook him out of his stupor. Throwing himself flat on his back he avoided Siler's second shot by inches and started firing blindly in his and Carter's general direction while at the same time pulling the mangled notepad from Jackson's pocket. Shoving free of the dead man he rolled, firing more shots as he went, seeing Zelenka disappear behind some crates on hands and knees. Following him he heaved the other man to his feet and together they stumbled up the ramp of the Jumper to come face to face with Dr. Lee and Kavanagh. Both scientists raised their hands in terror then scurried for the exit at Sheppard's furious shout.

"Out! Get out of here!"

Jerking off wires and cables connecting the Jumper's crystal arrays with consoles outside he slammed his hand on the hatch control then ran in the forward compartment when it started to close. Something that sounded like hail hit the hull of the Jumper but it was already responding to him, the controls lighting up, the HUD coming alive across the window, flashing ominously red and scrolling Ancient script.

"Radek! I need to get this thing in the air!"

"Yes, yes, oh, they have made _mess_ of this! Try now!" Zelenka had his nose nearly on the crystals as he swapped them around. The engines powered up with a soft purr and the Jumper lifted off the ground. "Uh, Colonel, is there opening big enough for us?"

Sheppard's smile was cold as he found what he was looking for. "There will be in a minute."

The drone bays swung out with a fine whirr and two golden streaks flashed across the hall, impacting the wall with a spectacular explosion. Before the debris had stopped falling John had already kicked the Jumper forward, shot through the gaping hole and up into the clear, star-sprinkled and oh-so-welcome sky.

Exhaling a long breath he slowly leveled the ship out then frowned at the still flashing HUD in sudden alarm.

"Radek, I'm not sure the cloak is engaged."

Rapid cursing in Czech sounded from the rear compartment. Sheppard's face became even grimmer as the HUD abruptly changed and displayed three fast-moving objects approaching their position. Three VERY fast moving objects.

"We've got company. Radek, I need the cloak!"

The line of the three objects opened to form a classic pocket, blocking the Jumper's course. Shaking his head John banked the little ship around only to find two more dots coming closer frighteningly fast. Faster than this Jumper would go despite all his urging.

"Radek..."

"Now!"

Sheppard concentrated hard and simultaneously turned the Jumper again sharply, diving beneath the trap of the first three ships or planes or whatever they were, hoping and praying Ancient technology would prove superior to that of the Tollan. For a second it seemed as if the others were adjusting but then suddenly their formation broke up and they started circling in obvious confusion.

"Yes! They lost us!"

There was only a groan from behind.

"Doc?" Twisting round John just saw the Czech kneeling doubled-over on the floor. "Oh, crap. Crap, crap, _crap_!"

Forcing the Jumper sharply down he scanned the rough mountain ridge expanding below them. After an endless minute he was able to make out a small cluster of trees in a fairly wide crack, wide enough to take them in. The second he knew them safely on the ground he was out of his seat and beside the scientist, gently touching the man's back.

"Hey. Radek."

Zelenka was shaking from head to toe, his accent heavier and far more difficult to understand than usual.

"I just - need second."

"That's all right. Take your time."

John started rubbing a soothing circle on Zelenka's back but stopped when the scientist winced painfully. For a moment he really, really wanted to go back and blow up the whole damn mountain with a couple of drones. Shrugging out of the blood-stained uniform jacket he carefully placed it over Zelenka's shoulders.

Long minutes passed in silence as adrenalin slowly faded away.

John's eyes wandered over the open racks of crystals, wires still dangling haphazardly, the benches along the sides stripped of their covers. Large parts of the wall panels were missing, circuits laying open for examination. Suddenly realizing that his hands were bloody too he wiped them on his pants. Beside him Zelenka gave a small sigh and struggled to sit up.

"Careful."

Sheppard steadied him and then pulled up Radek's shirt first at the back then at the front, looking at what was underneath with an unreadable face. He smoothed the fabric back down very gently. Zelenka self-consciously drew the green jacket closer around his body.

"It was ... Lieutenant Ford, you know," he said very quietly. "The one who... Most of the time after they discovered I knew him and... I - I guess he never got a chance to grow out of his 'let's hit the smart kid' habits in this reality."

Sheppard breathed out. "I'm sorry it took me so long."

Zelenka merely gave a small nod. Suppressing a sigh Sheppard clambered to his feet.

"Well, come on, doc. Seats up front are more comfortable than the floor."

With Zelenka placed safely beside him John slipped back in the pilot's seat and for a moment just stared out through the window. As much as he wanted to fly South immediately, as much as he wanted to leave this reality right away, it was not an option. Zelenka needed rest and food and water, would normally need medical attention. They both needed warm clothes to withstand the freezing temperatures down in Antarctica if they wanted to achieve anything there. And that meant they needed help.

Jackson's blood-dotted notepad was lying on the Jumper's DHD as Sheppard got the little ship up into the air and pointed its nose up North, to Vancouver.


	10. Adjustments

Disclaimer: The Stargate universe belongs to MGM et al. - this is for fun, no copyright infringement is intended.

**

* * *

**

**- Alternate reality. **_**Isaac Newton**_**. **

"Hello, David. Beth." On entering engineering Dr. Janet Fraiser nodded in greeting at some members of the technical staff while parting ways with the crew member she had come with. "Where's Lindsey? Ah, yes, thank you."

Following the pointing finger she weaved through a number of personnel clustered tightly together in the limited space, noting with amusement that obviously news had traveled fast once again. It certainly looked like every last member of engineering had shown up to see the lookalike of their Colonel at work ... though some at least tried to appear busy. As she made her way through the group gathered around the console she was aiming for, with the alternate McKay and Lindsey Novak at the center, she caught first snatches of their conversation.

"OK, OK ... so you convert here and then root over to there..."

"Uhm, no -_hic_- we convert there and then..."

"Yes, yes, yes, I see. But why have you put that on the other side I would have thought the more obvious choice would have been..."

"No - I mean - that is -_hic_- it's because the second array is there and then it..."

"... would have been a potential hazard, right, I can see that but still..."

"Hi, Lindsey," Fraiser interrupted cheerfully, "Drink some water."

A visibly flustered Lindsey Novak spun around, nearly taking out one of her staff standing too close. Her naturally jumpy way to move seemed to have increased tenfold, hands, knees, elbows and surprisingly agile head all over the place. She hiccupped loudly.

"Oh, uhm, Janet, hi. -_Hic_- You - you already met Dr. M-McKay?"

"As a matter of fact, yes." Fraiser still looked amused though her eyes narrowed slightly since Rodney's focus was already back on the screen after not much more than a short look around.

"Oh. Oh, yes, right." Novak's long, flushed face seemed to become even longer and she hiccupped again. "Drat!"

"Lindsey, are you all right?" By now Fraiser seemed mildly concerned. It had to be almost three years since the chief engineer had had a hiccup fit that bad, and then it had been because she was requested to put on a spacesuit and search the field of debris that had once been the _Marie Curie_ for salvageable parts. To be honest that grim task had taken its toll on the nerves of many more people.

"Oh, yes, yes, quite. I mean except for the -_hic_- hiccup. It's just..." Novak shot what was probably supposed to be a surreptitious look at Rodney, leaned confidentially forward and murmured out of the side of her mouth (and still loud enough for anyone to hear), "They are so very different!"

"So?" Amusement had returned to Fraiser's voice for a moment. Then she lifted it slightly to gain the attention of the man in question. "Anyway, Meredith sends us down to help with any questions that may come up."

Novak look relieved while Rodney first winced at hearing his hated first name then, previous train of thought thoroughly interrupted, processed a bit belatedly what the petite woman had just said. He turned in disbelief.

"Excuse me? Last time I looked your field of expertise was medicine not hyperdrive technology, and while that comes in handy, namely in the case of huge, ugly burns from staff weapons, I can't see any reason how voodoo should be of help here." He made a short pause. "Well, except you integrated organic components in you drive you have not yet told me about - what would be rather ... disturbing."

"Different but the same, yes?" Fraiser crossed her arms with a healthy dose of sarcasm. Then she suddenly smirked. "But you are right, Dr. McKay: No, my field of expertise is not hyperdrive technology." She lowered her head and closed her eyes and when she opened them again it was with a golden flash. **"Mine is, however."**

"Whoa!" Rodney backed into the console. "Oh, God, you - you are..."

**"Jolinar of Malkshur."** The alien lifted Fraiser's head with an arrogant smile.

"Oh." Rodney closed his mouth with a snap. Gulping awkwardly he twirled a hand. "Uh, sorry, but ... I thought the Tok'ra were ... you know, extinguished?"

Jolinar's expression became grave. **"I'm the last of my people. Just as the humans on this ship are the last of their world." **

"Oh," McKay repeated quietly.

And so it began.

However reluctant Colonel McKay had been at first to accept their proposal, now that he had made his decision he pursued it with the same determined vehemence. Crew members took turns to sit with the three teammates or follow them around, meticulously noting down any information they were given, relentlessly asking question about anything and anyone, going away to discuss them among each other and coming back for clarification.

So Rodney talked about power requirements, crystal arrangements and radiation shielding. He talked about parallels to Asgard technology and the stardrive of Atlantis. He demonstrated intergalactic navigation methods, adjusted coordinate systems and argued with Jolinar and Novak about figures and calculations and structural integrity.

Teyla talked about the Athosians. She talked about their old home, their beliefs, their sorrows, their trading partners of many centuries. She talked about the Genii and their hidden underground bunkers, about their attempt to take Atlantis, about Cowen, Kolya, Ladon Radim. She talked about the Hoffans, and their determination to sacrifice half of their people for a chance to avoid a next culling ... and how bitterly they failed. She talked about the civilization that managed to convert Wraith storage technology into something to save their heritage, and about those who bought safety by offering their criminals as food source to the enemy. She talked about the Wraith, their hunger, their tactics, their determination.

Ronon wrote down gate addresses, symbol after symbol, of all the many worlds he had visited in his years as a runner, of many of the worlds he had come to as part of Sheppard's team. He told the listening soldiers about the climate on them, of forests, deserts, fertile fields and green pastures. He told them which of them had good places to hide from the Wraith, which had friendly, helpful inhabitants, on which to expect a reception of flying arrows and which had been left dull and lifeless. He told them where they had found the most interesting ruins of the Ancestors or the most helpful allies, the locations of secret Wraith facilities and where they had met Ellia, the young future queen who wanted so much to be a human.

Rodney talked about Replicators and nanite programming while simulating crystal reconfigurations. He talked about which labs were more dangerous than others on Atlantis and which devices to keep your fingers off while crawling through maintenance tubes, under terminals and over man-high conduits. He explained how to bridge Ancient door controls by swapping around crystals while shoveling down tasteless pseudo-porridge with one hand and correcting schemata with the other.

Teyla talked about the mistakes they had made by experimenting with Carson's retrovirus. She talked about Michael and the converted hive and their guilt. She talked about Todd and the Wraith DNA in her own genetic makeup. She talked about those the humans of Pegasus called Ancestors, about ascension, about Chaya, the Aurora and Helia and her crew, and their end. She talked about Liam and the rest of his small fraction of Replicators who had searched for a soul.

Ronon looked away as he talked about Sateda. How they had fought. And lost. Everything. Sometimes even their honour.

Rodney talked about the Chair and drones and Puddle Jumpers and the ATA gene and how necessary it was to control Ancient technology. This led to a very amusing because aloud argument between Jolinar and Janet Fraiser about who should have use of their body since the doctor was eager to start her research while the symbiote argued the hyperdrive modification had priority. Jolinar won. The episode left Rodney with a whole new appreciation of the freedom he had been allowed while having Cadman in his head. Had he been in the position of Elisabeth, Sheppard or Zelenka he would probably had locked himself away and lost the key.

Teyla was intrigued and touched by the 'poster wall' in the mess where everybody had contributed posters or photographs for anyone to share. She smiled about the poster of Johnny Cash and complimented one of a great bridge, arching gracefully in front of the panorama of an illuminated city at night. She was told that the original of it was an oil painting of the Sydney Harbour Bridge by what had been a young, rising artist, Evan Lorne. Teyla was silent for a very long time after that.

When Ronon got tired of talking he started showing the marines and Russian soldiers fighting techniques of his galaxy. He hammered home a healthy respect for the resilience of the Wraith, their ability to heal themselves and was very plain about how many shots you should put in them to be mostly certain they would not raise again. He told them to leave the Wraith enzyme alone no matter how tempting the advantages. Aiden Ford, Lieutenant or otherwise, had not survived in this universe.

It was Jolinar who told Rodney in passing that Colonel McKay and Dr. Fraiser used to be married before she became a host for the symbiote, startling him so badly that he dropped an irreplaceable crystal. The ensuing scramble to save it resulted in a strained back for Rodney, a split lip for Lindsey Novak and teeth marks on Jolinar/Fraiser's hand. The crystal survived intact.

Teyla was very surprised to learn that Stargate Operations had stayed a civil organization albeit secured by military contingents of so called "Blue Helmets" up to the very end. Obviously a necessary compromise to avoid open conflict in a world still shaped by this strange Cold War since the Stargate stood on territory of the United States. She was not surprised to learn that for the last four years of Earth its leader had been Elisabeth Weir.

And there was, of course, the memorable moment Ronon walked into engineering and found it quiet with Rodney and Novak staring at two different terminals. Surprised he looked from one to the other.

"What, are you done?"

"N-no." Novak threw a nervous glance at her colleague from an alternate reality. "B-but Dr. McKay has been talking so much, and part of engineering can be very loud and you have to shout and so ... his voice suddenly gave out. Dr. Fraiser just left to get something for him."

"Really?" Ronon looked startled then a wide grin split his face. "Never thought I'd see the day!"

The glare Rodney bestowed on him for that was downright murderous.


	11. Unforeseen

Disclaimer: The Stargate universe belongs to MGM et al. - this is for fun, no copyright infringement is intended.

Author's note: To the best of my knowledge, no medication of the name mentioned in this chapter exists.

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**- Alternate reality. Earth, Vancouver. **

There were some unexpected ... difficulties to finding an address with a Puddle Jumper. For instance it had no Earth based Navigation System like a car. Not to mention that this one still communicated exclusively in Ancient and flashed more warnings than any pilot or engineer could be comfortable with. And while finding Vancouver was not exactly the problem - though deciding which glob of light along the coast represented which town had its own hazards - finding the right street in such a big city certainly was if you had no idea where to start looking for it. At four in the morning Sheppard was desperate enough to land the Jumper and ask for directions at a gas station despite its surveillance system. At six they finally set down in a small fenced-in backyard of a shadowy one-story house, cowering like intimidated between more generous estates. For a long moment the two men just stared outside at the mostly lit windows, casting a golden glow in the gray of dawn.

"Well," Sheppard said finally, "At least it looks like someone's home."

Zelenka reached to adjust glasses that were not there and dropped his hand resignedly. "If it's really them."

John drew a deep breath. "Only one way to find out for sure."

Standing he checked the weapon procured at Cheyenne Mountain and shoved it in the back of his pants, drawing the shirt down over it. He hid his concern as he watched Radek clamber laboriously to his feet as well. The Czech had slumbered fitfully for part of their journey but still looked pale and exhausted, swaying slightly as hunger and thirst messed with his balance. John gritted his teeth and lowered the ramp of the Jumper. Whoever lived in that house they were going to help them. If they wanted or not.

But it was Jeannie Miller who came to the back door pulling a telephone headset off, and looked them up and down with suspicion. She was sporting a spectacular black eye.

"Yes?"

"Uh, hi." Sheppard tried his most charming smile and surreptitiously waved Zelenka to stand a bit more behind him. "We need to see your brother, is he in?"

Immediately the suspicion in Jeannie's eyes intensified. "My brother? Why?"

"Well, we..."

There was a clatter from inside the house. Sheppard perked up.

"He's there, isn't he? Rodney?"

"Who are you? Are you from his group? Hey! Hey, you can't -"

John shoved Jeannie aside and strode through the kitchen despite her angry protest.

"Rodney? Rodney!"

"What are you doing? Hey! This - you -"

Pushing into the next room Sheppard caught sight of a familiar broad back sitting at a table. He shook off Jeannie's grasping hand and lengthened his stride, heard Radek's apologetic mumble as he blocked the blond woman, reached out for his friend.

"McKay -"

"_No don't_ _-_"

The second John's hand touched Rodney's shoulder the other man erupted with a loud shriek, arms flailing wildly, sending building blocks everywhere across the floor as he twisted and screamed, blindly hitting at anything within his reach. He screamed and screamed and screamed, the force of it sending Sheppard reeling backwards and then Jeannie was in his face, shouting as well, pushing him away with unexpected strength.

"Are you _insane_? My brother is _AUTISTIC_! Mer - Mer -"

Giving him one last vicious shove she scrambled around the table and held out pleading hands, ducking the aimless, violent strokes of the strong man on the other side, and suddenly it was sickeningly clear how she had come by that black eye.

"Mer, it's all right, it's all right! Please! Mer! Mer, look. Look, your blocks. Look, you can stack them, see? It's all right, Mer, everything's all right, everything's all right..."

Keeping carefully out of reach she started stacking the children's toys and pushed the small tower towards her brother. And as suddenly as the fit began it ended. The screaming died down; the waving arms stopped moving so violently and finally sank onto the table. Rodney's head wobbled a bit left and right, his gaze not really fixing on anything until it more by accident landed on the toys in front of him. For a moment he stared, slack-mouthed, then he slowly reached out with his left hand, somewhat clumsily grabbed a new block and put it with exaggerated care on top of the little tower his sister had started.

"That's it, Mer, that's it. Everything is OK." Still talking soothingly Jeannie picked up the blocks fallen to the floor and packed them back on the table. "Everything is fine. Nobody's touching you."

Giving her brother one last look of mingled love and pain she finally rounded on Sheppard and Zelenka who had watched all of it too shocked to move, and her eyes once more sparked with fury.

"Leave! Now! Or I'll call the police!"

"What...?" John trailed off helplessly, still staring at the man who was probably the most brilliant man in a different reality, who was a foremost expert in Ancient technology, who's genius had saved Atlantis and his life countless times, who had developed _a whole new kind of math_ to save him in a different timeline ... playing with blocks like a toddler. He looked at Jeannie with something close to despair. "What _happened_?"

"I don't think I am in _any_ kind obliged to -"

"Rodney isn't autistic! He is anything but! He's - he's brilliant! A genius! He's not - not - _this_!"

"Excuse me? You force your way into MY house, you violate MY brother and you have the audacity to lecture ME about Meredith's condition -"

"And don't call him that! He hates that name!"

"How dare you -!"

"I know that man! You hear me? I know that man, and he's NOT autistic! He was not born that way!"

Jeannie crossed her arms defensively. "It is NONE of your business but I'll have you know that my brother was a very difficult child, sometimes not talking for days and weeks, and -!"

"They gave him Tryptoburat, didn't they?" Zelenka said quietly. "Your parents?"

Jeannie and John turned in surprise to the slim Czech. Radek gave Sheppard a sad glance and looked back at the empty shell of his colleague, nemesis and not-quite friend.

"I ... had a friend at university, a psychologist. She told me it was used on children with autistic symptoms in the seventies until they discovered it damaged the brain as a long-term effect."

Jeannie swallowed thickly. "My parents..."

John didn't let her finish. "Oh, God, you _drugged his brains out_?"

Jeannie's face turned to ice. "That's it! I'll call the police!"

"Oh, no, you don't!"

Sheppard jumped after her as she made for the door, catching her arm. Crying out Jeannie tried to jerk free then screamed in earnest as he trapped her against the wall with his body. Slapping a hand over her mouth he didn't know what was worse - the sudden fear in her eyes or the fact that Rodney was still sitting quietly at the table, starting a new tower after the first had crashed down, making no move to help his sister... Taking a deep breath John struggled for calm and looked from a terribly fidgety Zelenka back at the frightened woman.

"Listen. I'm sorry. I promise we will hurt neither you nor your brother but we need food and water and some warm clothes. After that we will be gone. Now, will you be quiet if I take my hand away?"

Breathing heavily Jeannie stared up at him and finally nodded minutely.

"Good." Slowly Sheppard removed his hand and stepped back but kept a firm grip on her arm. "My friend needs a shower and some fresh underwear. Then you can make us some breakfast."

Looking back and forth between them Jeannie pressed her lips together, fear and anger warring on her face. She jerked her head to the door.

"This way."

"You go first." Sheppard nodded at Radek to follow them. Looking upset and miserable the Czech scientist obeyed.

In grim silence they trooped through the corridor and gathered some of Rodney's clothes then marched back to one of the bathrooms where Jeannie tore out towels and on Sheppard's prompting slapped an electric razor on the shelf over the sink. Leaving Radek to the benefits of hot water Sheppard and Jeannie then went down to the basement and stuffed Rodney's and even some of Jeannie's heavy winter gear into a suitcase. Back up in the kitchen Sheppard made sure the big bag blocked the door to the backyard while he stood in easy reach of the other one as he watched the now more angry than frightened woman forcefully pull pans from the cupboards and slam plates, glasses and cutlery on the table.

"So," he started when he couldn't bear the loaded silence any longer, "You are not married?"

Jeannie paused and threw him a look of utter contempt before viciously turning on the heat for the pans.

"It's just, you know, you are. You even have a young daughter, Maddie. Madison. In the reality we come from. And yes, I know how that sounds but we do." For some reason John felt compelled to justify himself in front of her glowering anger, felt the need to make her understand the reasons for his own. "Zelenka and I, we come from a parallel universe where things have gone much different than in this one. Some at least, basically they are the same. We only ended up here by accident. All we want to do now is go home. You and your brother are important scientists and good friends where we come from so we thought you might help."

This time the look of contempt was longer, mixed with a certain wariness of the mad man.

"Hey, don't tell me you as a physicist have never heard of the multilayer universe theory."

Jeannie snorted as she stirred eggs with more force than exactly necessary. "I have no idea where you got the idea I've ever studied physics and as amusing it may seem to you to ridicule me..."

"No!" Now John was really taken aback. "I just thought..."

"I'm not interested in what you think!" Jeannie interrupted harshly as she slapped a slice of white bread on an extra plate. "You come here, threaten me and my brother, take what is ours and then try to make conversations like the neighbor next door?" She heaped a good amount of scrambled eggs on the bread and added two pieces of ham before slapping a second slice of bread on top. "For all I know you are a criminal hunted by the government or even an alien come through that thing, that Stargate the Americans are so proud of, your talk is crazy enough for that. And you know what? I don't care! I just want you to leave and never come back!" Shoving the plate routinely to the edge of the counter nearest the door to the next room she wiped her hands and glared a Sheppard. "Scientists! Physicists! I have taken care of my brother since I came of age! The little pension from the drug company is barely enough to keep the house and I work night shifts for a call center because Mer doesn't sleep well. And a few hours at a friend's shop during the day as well whenever I can persuade him to go to the group therapy! _I don't need this!_ Go and play your sick little games with someone else!"

"I..." John shut up abruptly as Rodney shuffled slowly through the door and ambled over to the sandwich without looking at either of them. Slurping it messily down he licked the plate clean, put it back down, patted it a few times somewhat regretfully as if sorry it was empty and shuffled back out, passing a wide-eyed Zelenka without a glance.

A long moment no one said anything. Then Jeannie hefted the pan and filled the two other plates with slightly overdone eggs and ham.

She did not sit down to eat with them. Instead she filled a bag with canned food and bread as Sheppard had requested earlier, adding bottled water and a carton with apple juice. From the other room came the occasional crash of an overbalanced stack of building blocks, always followed by the quiet _tack_ ... _tack_ as the child-like man patiently built a new one. Sheppard grimaced and gave Zelenka half of the food on his plate. The Czech shoveled everything down with a greed that belied his former restraint. While he wiped his plate with a last slice of bread John stood and stepped up to Jeannie who watched him defiantly. The bruising around her eye was dark and ugly. Sighing John ran a hand through his hair.

"OK. Look, whatever it is worth, I'm sorry. If anyone comes to ask about us just tell them the truth." He looked over his shoulder at another crash and suddenly found he just had to ask. "I know it's none of my business but ... if things are so difficult why do you do it? I mean, wouldn't he be better off in some kind of facility...?"

"He doesn't like it there. Not for long." Jeannie regarded him coolly. "He doesn't like to be crowded, he needs space around him, anybody said that. But the facility he was in did not have the necessary staff to give him special treatment, and I can't afford the better ones."

"I see." John did not ask what happened to the parents McKay; if they died, if they just could not face their son, what they made of him without intention, if they could not face their guilt. He looked away. "Do me one favor. When we are gone, buy him a cat."

Jeannie snorted derisively. "A cat? You can't be serious, you have seen how he reacts if startled you can not honestly believe -"

"Look, just -!" John became aware that his hand was up in the air and forced it back down, clenching it, "Just ... buy him that damn cat! He'll love it, trust me."

Jeannie slowly uncrossed her arms and stared at him, with an expression he did not quite understand. As if she was seeing him for the very first time.

"Oh my God." Her voice was but a whisper. "You are serious. You are serious ... about all of it. That you come from a different universe. That I could be married and a physicist and a mother and my brother - _my brother_..."

She slapped a hand to her mouth with a strangled sob and her grief was so real, so tangible Sheppard had to turn away. He had wanted her to understand, to justify his actions but all he had done was make things worse for her.

"I'm sorry," he whispered again. Zelenka was standing at the table with hanging shoulders and sympathetic eyes. Sheppard jerked his head. "Let's go."

"No, wait!" Jeannie's hands were on his arm. "What - what can I do to help? Please, I want to help, there must be something else I can do..."

The two men hesitated and looked at her, her pained but honest eyes, asking for redemption, and then at each other. Finally Zelenka cleared his throat with sudden hope.

"Do you ... by any chance ... have magnifying glass?"


	12. Taking Chances

Disclaimer: The Stargate universe belongs to MGM et al. - this is for fun, no copyright infringement is intended.

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**- Alternate reality. **_**Isaac Newton**_**. **

"All right, folks. The good news is: We have finished our calculations AND I even found a solution for your hyperspace windows mess without downgrading your drive back to the Stone Age. The bad ones: The modifications will require the drive to be off-line for at least fifty-eight hours and for the fix you'll need equipment from Atlantis."

Rodney was pacing vigorously up and down in front of the conference table gesturing wildly, only a slight slump in his shoulders betraying the exhaustion of a man who had barely slept in thirty hours. Most officers of the _Isaac Newton_ once more sported those disconcerted expressions they tended to get whenever confronted with some of the more Rodney-ish sides of his behavior. Colonel McKay looked faintly amused. Oblivious Rodney twirled a hand.

"The length of time should not be problem if you are far enough out in the outskirts of this galaxy because the Goa'uld will either A) not pick up the subspace ripple B) at this distance not be able to get a clean triangulation C) take too long to reach to you or D) simply don't bother to waste their time - so stop worrying about it. What leaves problem number two. It is a good guess the Ancients secured Atlantis's Stargate against any incoming wormhole except from Earth in this reality too, simply to protect the city. Although that is not exactly the problem since one of your ring techs - Peterman, Pauli, Purdy, what's-his-name - came up with a rather good idea for a macro to connect your ring transporters with the transporters in Atlantis since both basically use the same principle."

**"He means Sergeant Perdes from Platform Three,"** Jolinar supplied sotto voce.

"Anyway, the problem IS that you will probably have to raise the city manually from the bottom of the ocean as soon as you arrive because the power consumption of the waking systems will cause the shield to collapse under the weight of water, and after that you will be sitting on the surface with no protection from the Wraith. Which is why you will need a Z.P.M."

"You have mentioned these ... Z.P.M.s on several occasions now," Colonel McKay threw in, "But you never fully explained what they are."

"Uh, Zero Point Modules - Ancient power sources, drawing vacuum energy from subspace and making any Naquadah generator look like a steam engine in comparison to a nuclear reactor. Atlantis originally needs three of them but you can make do with one." Rodney finally came to the table and scribbled vaguely on a pad. "They are cylindrical with some sort of spikes on top, kind of like that and about that high..."

Everybody frowned at the remotely crown-like shape on the paper. Teyla coughed and Ronon snatched it and the pen away with a grunt. Rodney flapped dismissive fingers.

"Whatever. Point is - you will need one and so we should start looking for it..."

"Where?" Captain Sheppard asked.

"Well, the most obvious choice would be Proclarush or rather Taonas, the Ancient outpost there - uh -," Rodney screwed his eyes shut and rattled down the more sober letters and numbers of the Earth-based name, "There should be a fully functional Z.P.M there, more than capable of sustaining the shield for years."

Colonel McKay leaned over to glance at Captain Sheppard's laptop. "That planet used to be under Yu's control, right?"

"Yes, but now it is in the territory of..."

**"Sokar." **

"Right." The Colonel tapped the table. "Flight hours to get there?"

"One second..." Sheppard hit several keys, "Thirty-three, normal speed, twenty-eight if we push it."

"Make that at least forty," a mouse-faced Lieutenant corrected, staring at her own display, "We need to restock on water within the next twenty hours, the pumps switched to the last tank thirty minutes ago."

"I see." Colonel McKay again tapped his fingers on the table, his expression unreadable as he glanced at his alternate self. "Other options?"

Rodney grimaced. "I know of the location of one other Z.P.M. in the Milky Way but that has been most likely tampered with by the Goa'uld Camulus and will explode as soon as it is powered up."

"There are others in Pegasus though," Teyla supplied quietly. "Hard to come by but maybe our only choice."

Rodney averted his eyes as he nodded. "That's true, although a Z.P.M. acquired here would also shorten the journey to Pegasus markedly..."

"You are right, of course," Teyla agree readily, "Then maybe we should focus on the first location you mentioned, Rodney."

For a split second a strange expression flickered across Rodney's face but Teyla didn't notice because she had turned to look at the Colonel. Ronon was busy scratching away with the pen. Colonel McKay tilted his head.

"Forty hours to get there, provided we find a planet with suitable water on our course and there are no problems while getting it on board," he calculated calmly, "Sokar's fleet is one of the biggest among the System Lords and stationed strategically all over his territory. I guess we'd have fifteen minutes, thirty tops after reentry to close the distance to the planet's surface, find the outpost and a way inside, find the device, retrieve it and get far enough away from the planet to open a hyperspace window. I do not like these odds."

His officers nodded with grim faces. Teyla bowed her head in acceptance.

"Then, I suppose, we are back to the Z.P.M.s in Pegasus."

Rodney's shoulders slumped but before he could say anything Ronon threw the notepad into the middle of the table and leaned back in his chair.

"THAT is a Z.P.M."

"What...?" Rodney picked it up, stared, made "huh" and handed it over to the Colonel.

"When powered up it glows green and yellow and red," Ronon explained gruffly, "When inactive the colors are still visible but muted."

The officers of the ship crowed together to stare at the drawing of a Zero Point Module perfect up to the last point, shaded with a skillful hand to symbolize the different zones of color. Pursing his lips Colonel McKay finally put it back down on the table. Jolinar discreetly reached over and took it. The Colonel briefly lifted his hands.

"Well, it helps to know what we are looking for but..."

**"I have seen such a device before." **

Everybody turned to stare at the Tok'ra. Jolinar looked up from the drawing.

**"It was a piece of decoration in one of Ra's former residences. The planet is now under the control of Ba'al although he rarely visits it. The Earth coordinates are, I believe, P5X-002." **

"P5X-002 ... Captain?" Colonel McKay rapidly snapped his fingers.

"Yes, yes, I know, I..." Sheppard hectically worked at the laptop then turned to his superior officer with wide eyes. "We just passed this planet a little more than four hours ago! At the border of Ba'al's territory, remote location, any other inhabitable system three hours away."

McKay's eyes narrowed. "Jolinar, can you lead a strike team directly to the device?"

**"It has been a long time but I believe so, yes. I recommend keeping the team small. Since the residence is not one of Ba'al's favorites there will be few Jaffa stationed there, and those who are will be focused on the sudden appearance of this ship. If we hack into their computer system as we have done in the past it should be possible to use the rings to get in undetected..." **

"I have to go with them," Rodney interrupted, looking hopeful and wary at the same time, "A Z.P.M. needs careful handling and..."

"Colonel," Teyla spoke over him, "May I suggest you send Ronon and I in to guard them? We and Dr. McKay have worked as a team for a long time and are used to each other..."

"And wouldn't stay behind anyway," Ronon threw in fiercely.

"Colonel!" protested Colonel Zukhov, the chief of security, in outrage. "I must insist..."

Colonel McKay's raised hand silenced them all.

"Captain," he addressed Sheppard calmly, "Redirect course back to P5X-002 without dropping out of hyperspace and give me an ETA."

"Yes, Sir!" Sheppard's hand was already at his radio. McKay's cool gaze swept on to his chief of security.

"Colonel, I want our foremost expert for explosives on this team." His calculating eyes wandered on again until they rested on the three people from an alternate reality. "And then please see to it that our guests get back their weapons."

**

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**- Alternate reality. Earth. **

Antarctica's white vastness slipped steadily past under the cloaked Jumper as Sheppard adjusted their course according to the HUD and took the last bite of Jeannie's hastily made sandwiches. Originally he had planned to skim over McMurdo Air Force base and then follow the familiar route he had flown so often only four short years ago. However, the sensors of the Puddle Jumper had picked up the location of the Ancient outpost and the Stargate way out above the ocean, allowing a much more direct approach. Which was just fine since it saved a little time.

Nearly twenty-four hours had passed since they left Vancouver, including one nap-stop for him on a remote slope of the Andes halfway down South America. The satellite belt with Tollan weapon technology had made it seem prudent to stay within the atmosphere even if it meant flying with reduced speed. It had been an oddly peaceful interlude, this journey South. With Sheppard focusing on keeping the Jumper on course and undetected. And Zelenka first getting nearly eighteen hours of uninterrupted sleep in relative safety that did wonder for his condition; and then tapping away at the tablet computers Drs. Lee and Kavanagh had conveniently left behind when fleeing the Jumper, with occasional trips to the crystal arrays in the back. The last of those he was just returning from, dropping in the copilot's seat with a stream of Czech profanity. Sheppard cocked a brow.

"What's the matter? Did you break your magnifying glass?"

Zelenka swung said magnifying glass around so he could focus short-sightedly through it - or rather through the normally wrong side of it - on Sheppard's now upside-down yet mostly sharp face. A trick, as he had explained, he had discovered at fourteen after his sister sat on his glasses, and that had now saved him from having to plaster his nose against power conduits in order to see them good enough for repairs.

"No, but the calculations don't work out!"

Sheppard frown. "Which ones? You have been pretty busy since you woke up."

Zelenka sighed and poured himself a cup of the no longer hot but still strong tea Jeannie had practically forced on them at the last minute.

"I was hoping to use our calculations about the experimental Jumper hyperdrive for getting enough energy so the Stargate would establish a wormhole to Pegasus. But it's not enough."

"Damn." Sheppard thought for a moment. "But the Gate has enough power to get us somewhere in the Milky Way?"

"It should. In our reality is was functional when General O'Neill and Colonel Carter found it, they just tried to dial an invalid address from the Gate's point of view. But just to get off this planet will not be enough."

"No, but it'll buy us time to think of something else."

Zelenka swallowed glumly. "Time may be a problem."

"What do you mean?"

Sighing the Czech tried for the hundredth time to push up his missing glasses and nearly poked his eye out.

"The longer we are here, the higher is the possibility of entropic cascade failure."

"Entropic... Excuse me, what?" Sheppard glanced over.

"Entropic cascade failure. A side effect that takes place when identical living matter - in this case us and our alternate selves already here - is forced to co-exist within the same dimensional universe. Fits, convulsions, certain death, very nasty."

"OK... Nice you finally mentioned it," Sheppard drawled sarcastically then he thought again. "Co-existing, you said? Well, I'm dead in this reality. Where have you been eleven to twelve years ago?"

"You are? I'm sorry, I mean..." Zelenka actually blushed and hastily went on, "Prague, I think... Oh."

"Yeah. Then you are probably dead, too. One problem less." There was no satisfaction in Sheppard's voice. A few minutes they just watched the ground slip by through the front window and the dots on the HUD wander closer together. Then John added suddenly: "Wait a minute. There never was a discussion about that when it looked like Rod would need to stay in our reality."

"Yes, because the side effect not always happens. Some speculate it depends on in how naturally close proximity the realities are to each other. Now, Rodney, on the other hand, thinks it depends solely on the means of travel from one reality to the other or rather if it occurred through an actual physical connection - like our bridge or the wormhole of the Stargate. He has a point."

"As usual." Sheppard's lips twitched.

"As usual. And please don't tell him I said this. I would never hear the end of it." Zelenka turned the magnifying glass in his hands and his voice became softer. "It - it was very strange to see him like that."

John's smile died.

"I mean, he is such a brilliant man," Radek continued quietly, "and to see him sitting there, stacking blocks... Stacking blocks!"

"Radek?" Startled Sheppard turned at the sudden change of tone. Zelenka's eyes were shining.

"But of course! Blocks, Colonel! Stacking blocks! We have the energy we need right in the outpost, had it all the time! The -"

"Drones," John finished in abrupt understanding. "If we rig the drones together, channel their energy into the Stargate..."

"... we should be able to dial another galaxy! The Antarctic Gate was the one used by the Ancients the DHD has the necessary crystal."

"But won't we need the Chair to control them? Keep them from going off?"

"Yes, yes, we do but we can initialize the Chair with the Jumper. For that there is enough energy!"

"Radek, you are brilliant!" Sheppard laughed. "Come to think of it why didn't we try that sooner, on Atlantis?"

"Yes, well, we have been bouncing around ideas using the Puddle Jumpers or even drones as an energy source but..." Zelenka seemed suddenly much more sober.

Sheppard took one look at his expression and grimaced. "That dangerous, huh?"

"Very, VERY big Boom." Zelanka nodded gravely.

"Oh, great." John pinched his nose then sat up straight when the HUD changed perspective and showed them a map with greater details. "Anyway, we are nearly there. I guess now it's going to the outpost first, right?"

"Yes, definitely the outpost." Zelenka was juggling the magnifying glass with one hand and typing hectically on a tablet with the other. "Although it will be much harder to get inside than down the crevasse of the glacier where the Stargate is located."

"Isn't that nice." Sheppard brought the Jumper around in a wide curve, now flying as much by HUD as by landmarks he recognized. "How did SG1 get in the first time?"

"General O'Neill modified a ring transporter to break through the ice above the outpost, something out of the question for us, obviously. But we can get down with the same method I wanted to use to widen the crevasse."

"Right." John grimaced. "Explain to me again how this was supposed to work?"

"Now..." Zelenka stopped just in time before his hand could creep reflexively back to his nose. "As you know a cloaked Jumper is invisible to the naked eye as well as any sensors not Ancient. For that it not only manipulates the path of light but mutes most sounds and also absorbs the heat of the drive pods. I have now rewritten the codes controlling the last aspect, so the cloak will still collect the head of the drive but it will no longer absorb it. The heat will form kind of a super-hot bubble around us that in combinations with the Jumper itself pressing downwards will enable us to melt through the ice ... and hopefully reach the outpost before the hull melts as well."

Sheppard just groaned. Slowing down he finally stopped the ship to hover directly above their destination. A long moment both men simply stared at the white world outside and the HUD, showing the position of the outpost relative to the Jumper. They exchanged a short glance.

"Fine, let's do this then." John tightened his grip on the controls.

Zelenka tapped on the tablet. "Code is enabled and ... heat is building up."

Sheppard watched the new scrolling of Ancient script on the HUD somewhat wistfully. "Who was again responsible for the translation protocol for the Jumpers?"

"Uh - Dr. Neuss?"

"Remind me to have Ronon give the man a hug when we are back."

Radek snorted. The beeping tablet drew his attention

"Colonel, if I converted correctly between Fahrenheit and Ancient measurement we should be good to go ... now."

"Right," said John grimly as he pushed the Jumper towards the ground, "Here goes."

The hot bubble of the cloak touched the ice with a hiss and a cloud of steam, snow liquefying rapidly in a circle twice the diameter of the ship. Boiling water lapped to all sides as Sheppard increased the downward component and the next second the Jumper was slicing into the ground like the proverbial hot knife through butter. A hard blow rattled the craft as superheated steam, compressed beneath the ship, broke free and rushed up in channels along the sides, a bombardment of ice particles hitting the hull and window then melting instantly. More steam and water shot up from underneath, rocking the Jumper violently, throwing it against the sides of the narrow shaft it created.

"Zelenka!" Sheppard screamed above the bone-rattling noise inside the whining Jumper.

"I know! I know! But if we go slower hull will fail before we reach outpost!"

A steam explosion from underneath tilted the Jumper precariously and sent it crashing into the icy walls which turned frothing water immediately. The HUD was flashing frantically red.

"Radek, the pressure...!"

"It is water pillar forming above us!"

Sheppard cursed and shouted, forcing the Jumper down harder, both men flying back and forth in their seats as the ship rocked and shuddered, banging around in the self-created shaft. But on the HUD the distance between their position and the outpost shrank, shrank quickly, despite the protesting howl of overtaxed materials. The Jumper bucked and twisted, heck weaving wildly, the front churning through water. The next second there was a sharp crash and a horrible, all-consuming vibration while the engines shrieked pitifully.

"What?" shouted Sheppard "What is it? We are no longer descending!"

"I don't know!" Zelenka clung desperately to his seat, the violent vibrations blurring the outlines of everything around. "Maybe we hit some rock embedded in the ice!"

"Damn it!" Screwing his face up Sheppard forced the ship down with hands and mind, teeth rattling painfully. "Come on! COME ON!"

Zelenka's eyes suddenly widened. "Wait, I think we may already be sitting on the -"

The dome of the outpost abruptly gave way under the pressure and both men screamed as the Jumper plummeted like a stone. And maybe Sheppard's frantic command of _Upupupupupupup_ would have caught them in time ... but the several tons of water and ice coming down on top of them slammed them right into the ground.


	13. Helping Hand

Disclaimer: The Stargate universe belongs to MGM et al. - this is for fun, no copyright infringement is intended.

**

* * *

**

**- Atlantis **

"Ancestors, Forefathers, hear us in our dark hours. For there are those who should be among us but have lost their way, and we can not find them in the night they wander." Halling's face and palms were lifted up to the heavens, his voice soft and deep and resonant all at once. "We beg of you, Ancestors, since we can do nothing to save them, stand by those we have lost and guide them so they may return to us unharmed in body and soul. Hold your hands over them and protect them since we can not. Show them the way back to us, so happiness and peace may return, do not let them wander any longer alone in the darkness."

Lowering his hands slowly he looked around at the four solemn men and one woman standing in a half circle around him, small white, unlit candles in their hands, before letting his eyes drop further to the low table in front of him. He picked up the Athosian fire-starter and carefully lit the mighty candle standing there, white on the inside, a deep green on the outside, fine, intricate yellow and red ornaments coming to life at the light from within.

"May this light be a beacon for those in our hearts and minds, may it light their way back in our midst, where they belong."

Lifting the great candle first reverently up then stepping around the table the grave Athosian stopped in front of Kanaan and bowed his head slightly. Looking down at the light in his hands Kanaan drew a deep breath.

"Teyla Emmagan," he said clearly as he lit his smaller candle at the flame of the great.

The two Athosians shared a faint smile before Halling moved on and nodded encouragingly at Jennifer Keller. The blond woman swallowed nervously as she lowered her candle but her voice was firm.

"Ronon Dex."

"Colonel John Sheppard." Major Evan Lorne carefully shielded his flickering flame from a draft of air.

"Radek Zelenka," Chuck intoned as the wick of his candle caught fire.

Halling turned to the last man and Richard Woolsey solemnly touched his candle to the light.

"Doctor Rodney McKay."

**

* * *

**

**- Alternate reality. Earth, Antarctica. **

Soft groaning and cursing filled the Jumper as the two men from Atlantis picked themselves slowly off the console. Sheppard pressed a hand against his chest where he had hit the controls hard. Zelenka's nose was bleeding but he had somehow managed to save the magnifying glass as well as one tablet. Licking blood off his lips he blinked dazedly.

"Did we break Jumper?"

"I don't know." John swallowed the pain with some difficulties, concentrated, and the HUD flickered to partial life. "At least not completely. But I think we somewhat flooded the outpost."

They stared mutely outside at the shimmering sheet of water interspersed with ice standing ankle-deep on the floor. Zelenka sniffed, winced and pinched his nose. Sheppard wondered if his chest was bleeding under his clothes and decided against looking. Denial sounded rather good right now. He sighed.

"Come on, let's get moving."

They had put on the thick boots and pants hours before, during their stop in the Andes, so now they only had to get into the thick parkas. But the air rushing in as they let down the ramp was almost pleasant. Drawing his brows up John signaled Zelenka to stay back before he approached the end of the sloping metal resting in the water. Squatting down he held a hand above the surface then carefully dipped his fingers in a few times. Finding the temperature manageable on the up- as well as the downside he nodded. Sloshing a few steps along the blistered side of the Jumper they stopped and craned their necks to look up through the shaft at the tiny speck of blue sky far above.

"Cool. Kind of," Sheppard finally commented. He looked around in the shadowy outpost. "OK. So now what?"

"First we'll link Jumper into the power conduits of the outpost." Zelenka squinted through the magnifying glass and pointed. "There, I think. Then we'll rig drones together. Chair comes last."

Sheppard watched him secretly concerned. The Czech's nosebleed had nearly stopped but his skin was of an unhealthy grayish white. Clearly the rough landing had spoiled any good food and rest had done. But all he said was:

"Fine, lead the way."

Nearly four hours later the state of the outpost would have brought tears to the eyes of any dedicated scientist.

Panels stood open and cannibalized, cables criss-crossed crazily all over the floor with its thin film of ice to disappear down the gaping maw of the drone pit. Crystals were strewn around, more coverings were leaning haphazardly against walls or were placed as bridges over conduits running in and out of the Jumper, the small ship itself looking like a softly humming, fat spider in a really, really messy net. At least all the water originally in the outpost had shot down into the wide cavern underneath when they opened the pit, now forming a slowly freezing lake at the bottom.

Heaving his body up the last steps of the ice-encrusted emergency ladder leading down into it John rubbed his aching hands and stamped his feet to get rid of the ice that had formed on his boots.

"That was the last cable! How're the readings now?"

"Good." Zelenka shuffled carefully around a pillar, tablet pressed securely to his chest. The ground had become treacherously slippery. "I think this should do it."

"Right." Sheppard looked at the familiar dais where his life had changed so drastically a few years ago. "So, the Chair next?"

"I think it would be better if we cleared the DHD of ice first. I'm not sure the Jumper has enough energy to power it up twice, so when we initialize the Chair it will be all or nothing."

Sheppard wordlessly loaded a backpack with an ice pick, several ice scrapers and a cooking torch, lugged it all over to an alcove that very much resembled a closet and gave it a fond look.

"To think it was here all the time and you never figured it out until we came to Atlantis..."

"We did not have much power back then," Zelenka defended peevishly as he joined John in the transporter, "And the panel is decorated so much, the only thing we ever wondered about was why anybody would hang a picture in a closet."

John snorted and touched the indeed lavishly decorated panel so it slid open and revealed the glowing map underneath. "Still, the best and brightest there were, including you and the one and only Rodney McKay, and they never realized outpost and Stargate were connected via transporter..."

"Shouldn't we go? DHD will not free itself from ice, no?"

Still chuckling John touched the gate symbol on the map. There was the familiar prickling and the flash of light and both men tensed for there was really no telling what was waiting for them on the other side.

It was cold. Cold and a semi-darkness that was somehow making the cold even harder to bear. They switched on Jeannie's flashlights and tried the door. For a heart-stopping moment it seemed it wouldn't budge but then they were able to slide the two parts some inches apart, enough to squeeze your shoulders through and climb over the pile of ice and snow blocking the way out. Their breath was forming white clouds in the freezing air. Swinging his flashlight around John gave Zelenka a tap on the arm when he spotted a well-known shape in the shadows.

"The Gate."

Zelenka squinted vaguely in the direction of the light, obviously unable to make it out without his glasses. He didn't protest when Sheppard simply took his arm and led him around the obstacles on the rough ground.

"The DHD should be off to the side, on a high block of ice. There?"

"Yes, I think so. Damn, that slope is steep. Hang on, doc. OK, just a little bit more. There."

Straightening on top of the block of ice they exchanged a startled look. Slowly Zelenka stepped forward and ran his hand across the tiles of the DHD, feeling the red center give easily under his testing fingers.

"I - I don't understand. It should be covered in ice and not..."

"Well, I guess they did find the second Gate after all," Sheppard said heavily from where he stood at the wall of the crevasse with the gun dangling loosely in his hand. "They just never realized it."

Coming to his side Zelenka angled the magnifying glass to stare at what his flashlight was pointing at and felt sick.

SG-5 was huddled close together down at the foot of the other side of the block of ice. Two of them still clutching the knives they had used to chip away at the hard snow on the Dial Home Device. Their sand-colored, short-sleeved gear told a story of the desert world they had gone to explore, the increasingly uncoordinated blade marks in the ice around the DHD, as they had tried to dig out the base in search for the supposed malfunction of the Gate, spoke of the rest. Thin thermal blankets did little good in such hostile climate. Hypothermia must have set in quickly. And after that... Sheppard turned away.

"Is the DHD functional?"

Tearing his eyes from the pitiful sight Radek refocused the magnifying glass on the large round device. Since temperature never rose above melting point very little new ice had formed on its surface, what was there would easily give under pressure.

"It is functional," he said quietly.

"Good." Sheppard's face was closed off and distant. "Then let's go back and initialize the Chair."

**

* * *

**

**- Alternate reality. **_**Isaac Newton**_**. **

"Oh, will you please stop doing that already?" Rodney burst out when he finally couldn't bear it any longer. "You've been at it since you got that thing back!"

Ronon twirled the blaster one last time around his finger and had it slide smoothly back into the holster, giving the scientist a feral grin. Rodney spluttered and Teyla just rolled her eyes as she firmly zipped up her vest.

"We should go. Jolinar will already be waiting for us at the ring transporter."

Still grinning Ronon preceded her out of the meeting room. Rodney fought with a stubborn clasp, hopped on one foot as he tried to stick a finger in the boot to ward off a pressure sore and nearly banged the borrowed P-90 in his face. Ronon's voice floated back into the room.

"McKay..."

"Yes, yes, coming!"

Boot sitting finally comfortably Rodney started for the door - and came to a sudden stop. A funny look crossed his face.

"McKay!" bellowed Ronon a second time, leaning against the wall of the corridor. He was twirling his blaster again. Teyla gave him a resigned look as she adjusted her own weapon.

"Rodney, we should be really on our way, the Colonel will not appreciate it if we are not in position when we drop out of hyperspace."

Both Pegasus natives looked up sharply at a strange little sound coming out of their room.

"Rodney?"

Teyla stepped back towards the door and was nearly bowled over as McKay shot out of it, looking flushed and rattled.

"Come on, chop-chop, time's a wasting, let's go!"

Snapping his fingers rapidly he took off down the corridor. Teyla exchanged a confused and slightly alarmed glance with Ronon.

"Rodney?" She had to hurry to reach his side. "Is everything well?"

"Yes, yes, peachy."

He was avoiding her eyes and Teyla felt Ronon's hulking presence closing in on them, obviously the big man was noticing as well that something was off. But they never got a chance to inquire any further since they had reached Ring Transporter Room Two ... and all three came to a dead stop at the sight that greeted them there.

The technician, Fraiser, Colonel Zukhov and a second woman turned to look at them.

"Right," said Zukhov, making no attempt to hide his impatience, "Dr. McKay, Ms. Emmagan, Specialist Dex - this is..."

"_Cadman!_" groaned Rodney.

The blond woman lifted her brows.

"Oh," she remarked dryly, "Guess we met in your universe."

"Met? Met does not even remotely cover it -"

A voice over the com system interrupted them.

_"E__TA minus two minutes. Standby for Ring Platform Two." _

"Talk later," Ronon commanded and marched into the center of the rings. He drew his blaster and faced outwards.

Teyla gave the bemused looking Lieutenant a smile as she took up position at her teammate's back. Shrugging philosophically Cadman followed suit. Rodney deliberately picked a spot where he was as far away from her as possible. You never knew, after all. Fraiser and Zukhov stood beside the technician. Seconds ticked by in tense silence.

"We are out of hyperspace," the man announced suddenly, "Picking up two possible ring platforms for transport."

"Let me see." Fraiser moved in his place, her fingers tapping the controls. "Jolinar says that one."

"Understood." Zukhov held a hand over his ear as he listened to his radio. "We are in their system. Permission for transport as soon as we are in range."

Fraiser opened her zat and took position inside the rings. Her eyes flashed briefly as she gave over control of her body to the symbiote. Rodney, Teyla and Cadman hefted their P-90s higher. Ronon steadied his blaster with both hands. Down here there was no sound, no sign as the _Isaac Newton_ fell towards the planet. The technician's hands suddenly moved.

"Reaching transport distance in five - four - three - two - one..."

The rings roared up from the floor and then there was only light.


	14. Give No Quarter 1

Disclaimer: The Stargate universe belongs to MGM et al. - this is for fun, no copyright infringement is intended.

**

* * *

**

**- Alternate reality. P5X-002. **

The rings roared back up into the ceiling and all five members of the strike team immediately swept their weapons left and right, searching the now still room for a threat. Finding it clear Jolinar pointed at one of the entrances. Ronon and Teyla smoothly took position on both sides, swinging out into the corridor at a curt nod, he aiming high, she crouching low under his arm in the opposite direction. Nothing moved in the golden light between the slanting walls. Jolinar once again signaled to the right.

They kept close to the sides, Cadman bringing up the rear and walking almost backwards, P-90 firmly to her shoulder. Rodney brought his weapon around in sync with the others, covering the doors and alcoves they passed. A loud announcement in the language of the Jaffa made everybody jump. The voice continued speaking for a second then the com system switched off again. Far away they now heard the rhythmic blaring of an alarm. There was no need for Jolinar to translate: The Jaffa were upset about the Earth vessel in their orbit, all right.

Slipping over an intersection the Tok'ra signaled a change of direction when Ronon suddenly jerked his fist up. A heartbeat later they heard the stamping feet of warriors coming closer. All drew back in the segments of the walls, Ronon and Jolinar, Teyla, Rodney and Cadman, holding their breath. The stamping got louder and louder, as did the metallic creaking of armor and then a troupe of eight Jaffa marched by in the corridor they had just left, the grotesque shadows of their closed helmets sweeping over Ronon's face as he pressed further back in his alcove, touching Teyla's hands holding the P-90. The noise of their feet became quieter and quieter and finally died completely. The team exchanged silent looks then Jolinar gave a short hand signal to continue down their corridor.

* * *

**- Alternate reality. Earth, Antarctica. **

Sometimes Major Evan Lorne felt like an old man. Or as he imagined an old man to feel when some day he suddenly discovered that the world had moved on without him, and nothing he once loved had stayed the same. He sure felt it now as he and his men stepped through the portal at Stargate Command and emerged from its counterpart at McMurdo Air Force base to answer the salute of the officer in charge.

"Are the hybrids ready?"

"Standing by just outside, sir." The young man turned smartly to stay at his side as he strode towards the heavy doors standing wide open. The breath of the marching men formed white clouds in the cold air. "Any idea what this is all about, sir?"

Lorne shrugged. "I don't know more than you do, major. The satellites picked up an unusual heat source some fifty miles from here; we go and check it out."

"Still, that they have sent you of the SGC to do that..."

"Leave it." Lorne's tone was cold and he lengthened his step. The icy wind outside hit his face like a slap and he appreciated it. Hard packed snow crunched under his boots as he headed for the two chopper-hybrids sitting like huge alien insects in the dirty white.

"Nosy idiot," a derisive voice drawled from his other side, "No wonder he is stationed here at the end of the world."

For a brief second Lorne's gaze flickered to his second in command before he forced his eyes firmly straight ahead again. Involuntarily his jaw clenched. But instead of the reprimand he knew he should give he simply said:

"You have your orders, Lieutenant. Capture the Czech alive, we still need his knowledge. Bring in the other one either way but the body must not be damaged too badly."

"Yes, sir!"

Signaling his team of men with a bright flash of teeth Lieutenant Ford jogged to the second hybrid. Lorne's back was rigid as he climbed in the first one and buckled in. He did not need to look up to know that some of the glances and mocking grins exchanged by his men were directed at him. He did not need to hear it spoken aloud to know that most of them, including the young dark-skinned lieutenant over there, considered him soft, a target for ridicule behind his back. And maybe he was, for a generation of soldiers who had never known how it had been Before, who was not bothered by the looks and whispers as long as their country, their families stayed well off and comfortable, and to hell with all the rest. But all that didn't matter as long as they still followed his orders as their commanding officer.

Giving his belt one last vicious tug Lorne signaled the pilot to take off, and stared at the ice dropping away quickly under them as the chopper-hybrids streaked like shadows through the blinding light.

* * *

**- Alternate reality. **_**Isaac Newton**_**. **

All was relative, in space. A ship that was able to carry thousands would still be dwarfed by any planet, clouds that seemed near enough to touch were miles and miles away, where there seemed no movement everything was really falling with a speed hard to comprehend. The star-sprinkled velvet of eternity taught you modesty. The sweeping curve of night over a planet humbled.

"Any contacts?"

Colonel McKay's brusque question shattered the tense silence on the bridge of the _Isaac Newton._ Despite the different history of the ships it looked very much like those of _Daedalus_ or _Apollo_, the most prominent difference the additional console in front of the commander's chair. Human minds sometimes thought frighteningly alike.

"None, sir," Captain Kleinmann reported from the tactical station.

"Activity on the planet?"

"None we can detect. So far no activation of the Stargate. But they are very loud on subspace communication."

"No doubt screaming our arrival to the heavens." The Colonel's hands rested calmly on his thighs.

"They will be wondering about our intentions," Captain Sheppard threw in from the other side. His fingertips made tiny adjustments to their flight path. "Maybe we should give them something to speculate about and skim the atmosphere. If we headed for the Gate we might draw some of them away from the residence."

"Negative." Colonel McKay's face was unreadable. "They will have secured the Gate anyway. Let them wonder why we are just sitting here. Novak, you are sure they did not notice our hack of their computer system?"

_"Affirmative, sir. They don't know the rings have been activated." _

"Good. Then we'll wait." McKay's eyes cut briefly over to his weapon's officer. "Keep scanning with long range sensors. I want no surprises."

Anybody on the bridge knew these were ultimately empty words. The problem with hyperspace travel was, an object in there moved so fast the moment even long range sensors picked up on it, it had already made the rest of the distance and was right on top of you. There would be no more than a heartbeat's warning of an approaching ship. If at all.

* * *

**- Alternate reality. Earth, Antarctica. **

The Jumper was whining and whistling, heat emanating from the extended drive pods as the modified engines pumped energy through the makeshift conduits and into the outpost. Standing in front of the weapon's control chair Sheppard watched Zelenka hurrying around between consoles and squinting hard on the readouts. Everything that needed to be said had been said. There were no further words necessary when the Czech scientist finally looked up and gave the Colonel a solemn nod. Exhaling slowly John gingerly sat down and leaned back.

And the chair lit up and swung backwards so smoothly it was rather anticlimactic.

For a long moment both men just stared at each other in disbelief, the looks on their faces almost comical. Then John pulled himself together, adjusted his long legs with a grimace and glanced at his watch.

"Right. Time?"

"Uh..." Radek was peering at the display of Jeannie's tiny alarm clock. Whatever guilt the woman felt over the condition of her brother, she had repaid it tenfold in their book. "Exactly ... seven minutes and twelve seconds past the full hour."

"Check," Sheppard confirmed, "I'll power up the drones in exactly five minutes from ... now. Go!"

Zelenka started for the transporter but stopped short when the other man added more quietly:

"And Radek... don't wait for me. The moment the wormhole is open - you go through."

The Czech swallowed. "But Colonel..."

"You are wasting time, doc," Sheppard cut him off, "Besides, we have no idea what will happen with the drones as soon as I leave the Chair."

Another heartbeat Zelenka hesitated, looking at the blurred figure in the chair while he pressed the magnifying glass to his chest, emotions fighting on his face. Then he turned and hurried to the transporter.

* * *

**- Alternate reality. Somewhere in space. **

"My Lord!" exclaimed the First Prime and turned to look across the bridge of the mothership, "We receive a message from Ko'al'ke. They have detected a vessel in orbit of the planet. It is the ship of the Tau'ri!"

The lavishly dressed figure on the throne like chair in the back stirred slightly.

"Is that so?" The cultivated tenor of the Goa'uld, speaking with his host's voice, was soft and dangerous. Ba'al slowly raised a gloved hand and tipped a finger to his lips as his glowing eyes narrowed. "What do they want on that planet?"

It might have been a rhetorical question but his First Prime answered anyway. "The Jaffa do not know. They report the ship is just hovering in space over the position of the buildings, out of reach of most of their weapons. My Lord, shall I instruct them to start gliders and attack them?"

"No." Ba'al's mouth, framed by the fine beard, crinkled slightly as he took in the figures and schemata displayed in front of the front window. "I think here other measures are called for. Send our two fastest Al'kesh ahead to engage them then alter our course. It is time we finally end this ridiculous game once and for all."

"Yes, my Lord!"

The First Prime gave the necessary orders and the course line on the display changed to cover the short distance to the planet in question. Ba'al smiled as two glowing dots started to draw ahead. It had been his intention to make an example of one of the Goa'uld under his command who had become too ambitious. A boring if necessary task. But now it seemed the day would end much more amusing than it began. Ba'al's gaze wandered on to the fourteen blinking dots standing for the rest of his fleet, going on the new course, and his smile deepened.


	15. Give No Quarter 2

Disclaimer: The Stargate universe belongs to MGM et al. - this is for fun, no copyright infringement is intended.

**

* * *

**

**- Alternate reality. P5X-002. **

Their luck still held. Teyla pressed her back against the side of a heavily decorated door and breathed slowly, supporting her P-90 with both hands. And in spite of the situation she could not help but look in wonder at the splendor all around her. In Pegasus you seldom saw such overloaded, almost, yes, decadent adornments, such rich golden colors. Atlantis's beauty, though wonderful in itself, seemed almost plain in comparison. And yet she preferred this plainness to the underlying distaste for everything mortal that seemed to ooze out of any wall of Ra's former private quarters.

Exchanging a quick glance with Ronon - the former runner appearing as unfazed as ever by his surroundings - she swept out under the lifting door and swung around in the new room. It was thankfully as empty as had been the rest yet this setting was different from anything they had encountered so far. They were entering from the back where a strange sort of chair without a backrest stood abandoned on a square dais. Before the dais there was a hulking, trapezoid portal, a symbolic barrier between the smaller part of the room with the dais, and the wider part, no doubt intended for the visitors come to pay homage to their god.

**"We are here," **Jolinar suddenly broke their silence for the first time.

The Tok'ra passed the 'throne' with quick strides, turned a few steps after the portal, and looked back at it. Curious they followed. Ronon's and Teyla's eyebrows shot up, Cadman gaped and Rodney groaned.

"Oh, that's a joke, right?"

In the center of the huge slab forming the top of the portal an elaborately carved shelf was springing out of the stone. And on it there sat the familiar shape of a Z.P.M.

**"It ... did not seem so high in my memories," **Jolinar admitted a bit sheepishly.

* * *

**- Alternate reality. Earth, Antarctica. **

Sheppard checked his watch and took a deep breath. Releasing it with exaggerated care he forced his hands to relax on the armrests. For a heartbeat he just stared up at the ceiling then closed his eyes and concentrated.

And deep down in the pit a first drone started glowing, jerking minutely in its bedding.

Up and down the racks more and more of the weapons lit up as Sheppard's fingertips moved ever so slightly on the gel pads of the Chair. Glowing in the cold darkness like eyes blinking open as pseudo-tentacles twitched and curled in eager anticipation. Heat built up, causing tiny drops of water to start falling from the construction as newly formed ice melted again.

* * *

**- Alternate reality. **_**Isaac Newton**_**. **

"We have two Al'kesh incoming around the planet! They fire their weapons!"

"Shields up! Captain, bring us out of their line of fire!" Colonel McKay was reacting almost before the weapon's officer had finished his yell, his hands dancing across his own console as Sheppard banked the _Newton_ hard and accelerated, twisting out of the path of the approaching ships. "Any indication where they come from?"

"Negative, sir! If they came out of hyperspace their windows opened on the other side of the planet!" Captain Kleinmann drew a hissing breath as the _Isaac Newton_ again swung gracefully around in front of the two bombers bearing down on her with vicious zeal. "Permission to launch F-72s to engage them?"

"Denied!" McKay's face was hard. "We would have to leave them behind if we had to make a quick escape. Return fire with Rail guns."

"Sir," Colonel Zukhov cut in, "Should we abort the mission?"

For a brief second the Colonel hesitated, his eyes outside on the glowing strings of pearls of destruction exchanged between their ship and the enemy vessels. He steadied himself on his console as the floor rocked slightly under their feet on impact.

"No," he decided finally, "Two we can take."

* * *

**- Alternate reality. Earth, Antarctica. **

Cowering shivering in the gloomy shadows around the DHD Radek squinted at the tiny alarm clock. Seven minutes had passed since he had left the outpost. Swallowing nervously he touched the first glyph. His fingers trembled. If he dialed too late the drones might escape Colonel Sheppard's control before the sequence was finished. If he dialed too soon the Stargate would not accept the eighth chevron and shut down, leaving the other man sitting on a bay of highly destructive weapons with no way for their energy to go. Closing his eyes Zelenka forced himself to wait another ten seconds before he pressed down his hand. With a mighty groan the first chevron of the Gate lit up.

* * *

**- Alternate reality. Still Earth, Antarctica. **

_"Major,"_ the pilot of the chopper-hybrid announced suddenly over the radio, _"Now we are not only detecting the one energy source that just appeared at the coordinates of the heat phenomenon but also a second one, several miles away in the mountains!" _

Lorne stared out over the white plain slipping by under their crafts and made a split second decision. He clicked his radio.

"Lieutenant Ford, you and your team check out this second energy source. We'll take the one at the original coordinates!"

_"Understood, sir." _

The pair of hybrids broke apart as they rapidly approached their destinations, coming in low across the ice. Lorne stared at the readings the pilots sent to his display and turned to his men.

"Three rope teams. That hole is damn deep, prepare ice hooks and picks. We'll go in in one go, no mistakes!"

* * *

**- Alternate reality. P5X-002. **

"I can't believe it!" wailed Rodney, balancing precariously on Ronon's shoulders while hanging onto the little shelf where Jolinar was perching with Janet Fraiser's slim body, "They _cemented_ it on!"

Underneath him Ronon just grunted with an expression that promised dire things to any future pudding cup in the scientist's hands. Teyla and Cadman watched half horrified, half fascinated. A sharp crackle in their ears suddenly broke the strict radio silence.

_"Team one, this is Zukhov. Abort mission and get to the nearest ring transporter room immediately!"_

"What?" Rodney looked startled, "No, we -"

**"Jolinar to **_**Newton**_**."** The Tok'ra had to let go with one hand to reach the radio. On the floor Cadman bit her lips. **"Negative, we have located the device and are about to retrieve it. Give us ten more minutes." **

_"Negative! I repeat, negative, we are under - WHOA!"_ Colonel Zukhov shouted, static crackled and hissed, mixed with a sound that could be the radio bouncing across a hard surface and then the faraway voice of Captain Sheppard, harsh and angry, outscreaming other people - _"Damn it, Rail guns, get that bastard off my BACK"_ - while from somewhere Colonel McKay barked to _"shut down those circuits! Medical team to the bridge!"_ and then Colonel Zukhov again, hoarse and obviously in pain: _"A__bort mission NOW!"_

Ronon, Teyla and Cadman stood frozen. Rodney and Jolinar wordlessly stared at each other, Janet Fraiser's fear shining through the Tok'ra's eyes before they became hard and old.

**"Will it break?" **

"I don't know."

The two scientists grabbed the Z.P.M. and wrenched with all their might, the ancient power source coming loose from its bed of mortar with a soft crack.

* * *

**- Alternate reality. Earth, Antarctica. **

John was gasping, his breath harsh and fast as sweat poured down his face, soaking his clothes while his heart seemed to want to jump right out of his chest. He had felt the very moment Zelenka dialed the first glyph. Had felt the sudden easing up on his burden to fire and yet not fire the drones all at once when the Gate activated and started willingly drinking in the energy he channeled towards it through the age-old conduits under the ice. Had felt the greed of it grow with every following chevron, two, three, four, five, six, had felt the sharp rise in demand when the seventh chevron encoded instead of locked, the Gate now more like a savage beast than the highly advanced piece of technology it really was. But nothing had prepared him for the roaring rush of power sucked towards it when the eighth chevron locked and the wormhole formed, the event horizon exploding outwards like the fist of an angry heathen god in his minds eyes, and John's back arched with a silent scream from the sheer force of it.

Never before he had truly understood how much power it really took to open a wormhole to another galaxy, had always accepted it as something normal, ordinary even after a time but now he knew it wasn't, would never be and never again the dry figures on Rodney's tablets would be the same for him. But even through his wonder and shock and the blood rushing in his ears he heard the zip of gloves on ropes, the thud of heavy boots on ice, and his eyes flew open.

"FREEZE! HANDS WHERE WE CAN SEE THEM! NOW, YOU ARE -!"

The marines ducked screaming as a glowing streak whizzed out of the heat-wavering pit in the ground, sending ice and parts of construction flying as it impacted the far wall, and Sheppard was out of the Chair and dashing for the transporter, skidding on ice, crashed into the alcove his hand outstretched...

"STOP IT!"

Sheppard's head whipped around to the only soldier still standing, to the gun barrel pointing unwaveringly at his head, and up to the foreign yet familiar face above it. Time stood still as two men of different realities stared at each other. Then Sheppard's lip curled up in a snarl and he hit the panel hard, vanishing in a flash of light.

Major Evan Lorne slowly lowered his weapon with shaking hands. He felt his heart racing in his chest, shaken to the core by what he had seen in the other man's eyes. It had not been anger or fear. Oh, those emotions had been there, no doubt, somewhere deep down and buried well... But the foremost emotion he had seen in Sheppard's eyes in that brief moment ... was disgust. Disgust. Lorne brushed trembling fingers across his lips as if he could wipe away the taste of bile he suddenly had in his mouth while his world turned upside down, shattered to pieces all around him. The look of one man he didn't even know personally toppling the house of cards he had built so carefully between his conscience and his actions. Then a wave of red-hot heat from the pit hit him in the face like a slap, and jerked him back to the here and now. He spun around to his men.

"_GET OUT OF HERE!_"

But somehow he already knew it was too late. It had been too late for a long, long time.

* * *

**- Alternate reality. P5X-002. **

They barreled down a corridor with Jolinar and Cadman in the lead, scattering an unexpected group of servants who ran screaming to all sides, all care forgotten. Left they went around a corner then right and immediately left again, Ronon bowling over a Jaffa guard running out a side corridor, Teyla taking out another with an elegant spin, the Z.P.M. cradled securely in the crook of her arm. Rodney simply pulling his head between his shoulders like a turtle and sprinting as fast as his legs would carry him after the two women in front. As new alarms blared loudly, Jolinar and Cadman skidded around another corner and threw themselves through under a closing door, Teyla and Rodney ducking beneath it and Ronon barely rolling in behind them. Energy blasts ricocheted off the heavy metal as it sealed the entrance in front of a running company of Jaffa and a well-aimed shot from Ronon's blaster prevented it from lifting again. They stormed panting into the center of the rings while Jolinar hurried to the control panel in the wall. The Tok'ra gave a short gasp before activating the radio.

**"**_**Newton**_**, we are at the rings but there are too many signals, you must come closer!" **

"Oh, God," whispered Cadman quietly.

_"Here Newton,"_ Colonel McKay's reply rang metallic in their ears, intercepted with wild static and shouting voices, _"Standby for transport in five!" _

**"Understood!"** Jolinar's fingers rapidly tapped the controls then the Tok'ra, too, ran into the rings.

Sweeping down through Ba'al's fleet with shields flashing violently from impacts _Isaac Newton_ met the matter stream before an Ha'tak could intercept it then twisted desperately to avoid collision with several gliders aiming for her sides. She did not succeed completely.

* * *

**- Alternate reality. Earth, Antarctica. **

John scrambled out of the transporter alcove, already firing shots at the men coming down the narrow chute to the surface, running across the ice as a blurred figure flew at him and they both fell and rolled fighting, cursing and shouting until he got a knee up between them and threw his adversary off. Ford's hood had fallen back. His face hard and tense in that determined, inhuman expression Sheppard had last seen when his young lieutenant had run down the corridor of a hive ship, had run away from him and his calls to come back with them, and John's heart suddenly hurt again as much as it had done that very moment. The next second a sharp-edged object - _a magnifying glass_ - hit the younger man in the face and he turned with a yell and John spun too, jerked up Zelenka from where he was cowering beside the Gate. The Czechs faint "Colonel..." lost in the shouts and threats and shots fired from behind as he threw them both through the rippling event horizon.

"Stop, shooting!" Ford was running for the Gate as were several of his men, "Follow them, the Gate must not close..."

But before they reached the monumental ring of Naquadah a distant rumble shook the ground and brought them up short. For the longest second they just stood like frozen, looking at each other. And then the ceiling collapsed the same moment the Stargate shut down with a sound like a weary sigh.

* * *

**- Alternate reality. **_**Isaac Newton**_**. **

As the strike team stumbled on the bridge of the _Isaac Newton_, they stumbled right into a chaos of desperately shouting voices, the stench of charred isolation and the whine of an overtaxed ship.

"Shields down to forty percent! Thirty!"

The _Newton_ rocked and shook almost continuously under the impact of hits from all sides, the space outside swarming with towering Ha'tak, the motherships of the Goa'uld, and whole squadrons of gliders and Al'kesh, maneuvering as fast and skillfully as the Earth vessel weaving a dizzying path through the deathly trap around it.

"Rail gun One out of ammo!"

Captain Sheppard's eyes were dark holes in a white face.

"They keep blocking us! I can't squeeze through - I can't find a straight stretch long enough to open a window!"

The ship shuddered and tilted crazily sideways, as is barely avoided a hulking Ha'tak almost disdainfully drifting in its way, sending Cadman across the floor, Teyla and Rodney barely hanging on to Ronon who like Jolinar had a white-knuckled grip on the doorway.

"Deck five and seven are venting atmosphere!"

A crew member from the rear lost his footing and was slammed into the back of Colonel McKay's chair who sat like frozen in front of his console, eyes moving rapidly back and forth while his ship fell apart around him.

"Rail gun Three and Four out of ammo! Colonel!"

The weapon's officer's voice rose in panic as the _Newton_ was thrown around like a toy - and Colonel McKay sprang alive with a barrage of commands.

"Engineering! Disable all safety protocols for hyperdrive and sub-light engines! Close emergency bulkheads! Collision alarm! All personnel secure yourself! Navigation, new course! Ready for hyperspace window and evasive maneuver on my mark!"

For the fraction of a second there was only shocked silence on the bridge. It was broken by two almost simultaneous shouts.

"Oh, God, we are all going to DIE!"

**"Rerouting power from life support to the shields!" **

Jolinar and Rodney ran for the same console as the collision alarm started howling. Ronon jerked his fingers out of the way just in time to avoid the closing doors.

"What...?"

He and Teyla stumbled against the front windows as the ship reared under another impact, and stared in horrified fascination out at the Goa'uld mothership suddenly filling their view. The _Newton_ spiraled once around her axis as Sheppard pushed her ruthlessly underneath it but there the next one was already waiting. Novak's voice came coughing through the com system.

_"Protocols disabled!" _

"Left. Thirty-six degree, ten up." Colonel McKay's voice was unnaturally calm. His hand hovered in the air as he stared at the figures on his console, not sparing a glance for the gigantic mothership seemingly swinging in their course although it was their ship that was making the sharp turn. A breathless heartbeat passed then his finger snap sounded like a pistol shot through the bridge.

"MARK!"

Sheppard's fingers moved faster than humanly possible across his controls and before them the blue blossom of a hyperspace window opened ... right through the side of the Ha'tak. One wing of the mothership was severed immediately in a succession of small explosions, and as the extending window cut deep into the engine core it all blew up in a cloud of fire and debris, wreckage flying like shrapnel to all sides just as the hyperdrive of the _Newton_ propelled them forward into the shockwave of the explosion. But Sheppard was already banking the ship hard, shouting, pleading, as sub-light engines fought against the powerful momentum of the hyperdrive, then everybody screamed as the _Newton_ shrieked and shuddered, powers she was never constructed to resist tearing at her, bending connections that were never meant to bend, shields flickering under the onslaught of the debris of the mothership. Yet they turned! Turned away from the shockwave, the hyperspace window that collapsed almost unnoticed, turned between the other Ha'tak that were scrambling themselves to get out of the influence of the explosion as much as out of the path of the Earth vessel gone crazy, two ships colliding in their haste and extinguishing in spectacular fireworks. And suddenly free space was before them.

"Hyperspace! Ten seconds!" yelled McKay and the flickering window opened before them and swallowed them up.

But it was all but over.

"Ancestor!" gasped Teyla as she stared through the windows at the twisting and billowing tunnel outside, the ship tilting precariously towards the left wall then over to the right and back again in a way she had never seen in hyperspace travel. Ronon spun around.

"What is wrong?"

"We are flying without safety protocols!" Rodney shouted across the bridge what anybody else there already knew, "A hyperspace tunnel is never steady but normally the computer compensates that in milliseconds and keeps the ship in the middle! With the protocols disabled he has to do it manually!"

The _Newton_ nearly scraped along the bottom of the twisting tunnel and no one needed to explain what would happen if they actually touched it. Sheppard's face was frozen in concentration, his voice barely human.

"Reentry in five -"

"Novak!" Colonel McKay snapped, "You cover sub-light engine protocols! Jolinar - the hyperdrive! Dr. McKay -"

"Restoring life support, yes, I'm already on it!"

"- two, one..."

The blue stripes dissolved and suddenly stars sparkled sharp and unmoving as the ship returned to normal space in the outskirts of the solar system. The Colonel impatiently snapped his fingers at his weapon's officer.

"Contacts?"

"Eleven Ha'tak in orbit of P5X-002. Several smaller contacts between them. Correction, now only ten Ha'tak. Nine. Colonel, they are going into hyperspace!"

"Countdown minus ten!"

"Yes, sir. Nine, eight -"

"Life support is at a hundred percent!"

"- seven, six -"

_"Sub-light engine protocols enabled!" _

"- five, four -"

**"Hyperdrive protocols enabled!" **

"- three, two -"

"Captain, get us out of here!"

"- one -"

The blue flower of the hyperspace window opened before them just as multiple of them flickered to life all around. The _Isaac Newton_ once more accelerated and vanished into hyperspace, and this time for good.


	16. Deadline

Disclaimer: The Stargate universe belongs to MGM et al. - this is for fun, no copyright infringement is intended.

**

* * *

**

**- Alternate reality. **_**Isaac Newton**_**. **

They had lost three people caught in a section were the hull breached under the strain of avoiding the first hyperspace window. Only seven seriously wounded were treated in the sickbay, the less gravely injured medical teams patched up at their stations. Although the terms 'less' and 'gravely' might have been open for some animated discussions under different circumstances. As it were the crew of the _Newton_ overall preferred gritting their teeth and repairing the ship first - just as they had always done over the past six years.

Colonel McKay ducked under flying sparks and edged around two ladders with crew members having their arms up in the conduits of the ceiling before nodding at the milling crowd in engineering. Despite restored life support the air still smelled decidedly burnt in close proximity of the engines. Stopping briefly to glance at a tablet pc Novak's second in command held out to him, and giving his grim consent he then went on to the small group gathered at the back. Teyla and Ronon and Captain Sheppard made room as he approached his alternate self.

"Dr. McKay. Tell me we did all this for a good reason."

"Well, we'll know in a minute." Rodney didn't even look up from the Z.P.M. he was just clipping the last wires to. Novak and Jolinar followed his every move with rapt attention. Finishing his task Rodney took up a laptop and hit some keys. "All right. If this is indeed the same Z.P.M. SG1 stole from Ra in our reality it should be almost fully charged. Let's see..."

The ancient power source suddenly lit up. Rodney, Novak and Jolinar crowded around the laptop, staring at the readouts, and Rodney's face fell abruptly.

"Oh no. 2 percent? I can't believe it -"

He broke off. For a second his eyes moved rapidly with a far away expression while his breathing accelerated - then he abruptly dropped the laptop and stumbled back with a small cry and his hands to his head.

"Rodney?"

"McKay?"

Teyla and Ronon started forward and Rodney screamed and sank to his knees, clutching his head in both arms. He screamed again, and again, his body convulsing and everybody jumped back as _something_ pulled from his face - as a ghost like mirror image _OF_ his face pulled out, jerked this way and that and snapped back again only to appear a second time while Rodney screamed and screamed, now writhing on the floor, kicking and flailing in agony.

"Dr. McKay!"

"Rodney! Rodney!"

Getting over their initial shock Teyla, Ronon and Dr. Fraiser dropped to their knees and tried to hold the struggling man but he did not seem to recognize them, clamping his arms only faster around his head as if he could hold in whatever it was that now jerked out again, like the personification of a soul in a really bad B movie, twisting and turning with a life of its own. Howling Rodney rolled on his back, his heels drumming on the floor.

"I NEED A SEDATIVE!" Fraiser shouted frantically, "MEDICAL TEAM!"

"What are you giving him?" Teyla gasped as she tried to catch Rodney's writhing body, "Won't that hurt him more?"

"He has hardly slept in forty hours and I gave him a stimulant just before the mission! His body can't handle this stress; we need to calm him down now!"

"TEYLA!" barked Ronon as he came to his feet in a fluid motion.

Teyla's eyes widened at the sound of his blaster powering up and she grabbed Fraiser by the collar of her shirt and jerked her out of the way just as the red light of the shot engulfed Rodney's body. The scientist arched one final time and then collapsed bonelessly to the ground, the fit ended for the moment.

Fraiser gaped, threw Ronon a baffled look and tentatively reached out to feel for a pulse at Rodney's neck. She closed her mouth with a snap.

"Well," she conceded, still boggled, "That was crude but ... effective."

As Dr. Fraiser started issuing orders in her radio, Teyla kneeled by her teammate and gently ran a hand through his sweat soaked hair. She didn't know what made her look up and search for Colonel McKay. But when she did she just caught sight of his back disappearing in the crowd. He was walking away.

* * *

**- Alternate reality. Pegasus Galaxy, M3X-779 **

It had been the crack of dawn when they tumbled out of the Stargate, rolling and skidding down the stairs of the dais as the wormhole shut down behind them. Breathless and shaking they had simply lain there for long minutes, gulping the fresh air heavy with the scent of trees, before they finally found the strength to get on their feet. Then the darkness had still been thick and heavy in the forest, making it hard to keep walking in the right direction.

But by the time Sheppard and Zelenka clambered up the slight slope leading to the hidden Ancient facility the sun had risen above the tree tops and temperature had reached a point were they cursed their heavy winter boots and the thick pants. Parkas and sweaters had been shed long ago.

"Dear me - somehow it didn't seem this far by Jumper."

Zelenka groaned and paused, bracing a hand on his knee. The still more than vivid bruises on his face stood in sharp contrast to his otherwise almost waxen complexion. There were still traces of blood at his chin. Sheppard leaned his good shoulder against a tree and closed his eyes at the new wave of pain from his rips, and the wound across his right biceps where a bullet had clipped it. Since they had once more used that ammunition exploding on impact he still considered himself very, very lucky.

"It's not far now." He glanced at the Czech still clutching the tablet possessively to his chest and once more shook his head in wonder. "I still can't believe you threw your magnifying glass at Ford."

"Ah, well, we needed tablet for machine later." Radek shrugged philosophically. "What is scrap of clear sight in comparison to that?"

"To be honest, I am more surprised about the actually hitting him thing than your choice."

They both snorted a small laugh at that until Zelenka grimaced when his much put-upon nose did not take too kindly to it and Sheppard winced because of his protesting rips. They exchanged a fleeting sardonic smile then John straightened with a heavy sigh.

"Well, come on, it really isn't far any more."

But in spite of his own words he still stood and stared up at a patch of blue sky visible through the leaves.

"What?" Nervously Zelenka glanced up as well. "Did you hear anything?"

"No ... no." Sheppard shook his head, eyes still at the sky. "Just ... wondering."

Radek frowned in confusion then understood.

"Teyla," he said quietly, "Ronon."

"Yeah," whispered Sheppard.

Leaves rustled gently in a slight breeze, covering and uncovering the patch of brilliant blue sky hiding the star-sprinkled velvet of endless space. A lone bird called far away, and in wordless understanding the two men lowered their eyes and started walking again.

In this reality, where Atlantis was nothing more than a listening post of the regime on Earth, there was no telling how the lives of their friends and teammates - or that of this whole galaxy - had gone. The Wraith would probably still sleep their long sleep between massive cullings, giving most of Pegasus a respite from their nemesis; but Sateda would still have been destroyed, Ronon would still have been made a runner by them. Maybe he was still running, for more than ten years now, or maybe he was dead, finally ensnared in a trap where even his skill and luck and determination were not enough to escape. And maybe Teyla was still the leader of her people, having never met the strangers from another galaxy who gained her trust and loyalty but never discovered her love for Kanaan, had never had their son. Or maybe she was dead, too, a culling, a raid, a trade negotiation gone bad; life was always dangerous no matter where you were or when or even in what universe. They would never know.

At least the crack in the wall of the facility was the same in this reality as in their own, and the old dry leaves crunched under their steps just as they had under Sheppard's team such a long, long time ago. And there was the device, sharp-edged and block-shaped, sitting in the faint light of the first room. John drew a deep breath as they stepped towards it.

"Right. How are we going to go about it?"

Zelenka fiddled with the tablet. "Well, first I will have to access interface and..."

It was decidedly different from their reality however, that the device - instead of sitting still and seemingly powerless - hummed to life on its own accord.

"Uh - Zelenka?"

"I don't know."

Whole batteries of lights came on all over the top of the device, blinked, flashed, changed patterns and suddenly became steady. The hum of the device increased.

"Zelenka?"

"I don't know! It shouldn't -"

The humming sound reached a tremendous peak ... and all lights disappeared. Literally. The two men gaped silently until Zelenka finally heaved a deep, exaggerated sigh.

"And where is machine _now_?"

* * *

**- Alternate reality. **_**Isaac Newton**_**. **

The tension in the sickbay was thick enough to cut with a knife. Ronon was pacing restlessly up and down, his face dark and drawn. Captain Sheppard was leaning against a bed and talking quietly to its occupant, a crew member recovering from surgery, but his gaze would often lift and stray to the end of the room where Teyla was sitting at Rodney's side, holding his limp hand in her own. Janet Fraiser and another doctor were frowning down at the results of the first scans, conversing in lowered tones. They all looked up and around as the main door hissed open to admit Colonel McKay striding briskly into the room, Lindsay Novak trailing reluctantly behind him.

The Colonel's cool eyes rested briefly on the face of his alternate self before fixing on his former wife. His voice betrayed no emotion.

"I need to speak with Jolinar."

Fraiser's mouth was a thin line. "Well, excuse me, Meredith, but I have a patient to look after and -"

"There is nothing you can do for him. Now, Jolinar."

Ronon growled deep in his throat and stepped forward, Sheppard moving instinctively to block him although he himself threw a shocked look at his superior officer. Teyla stood with sparking eyes as Fraiser straightened in anger.

"You can not know that! We have not even determined what is wrong with Dr. McKay but as soon as the results of the blood test come back we -"

"It is called entropic cascade failure," the Colonel's face was unmoved as he interrupted her again, "In Dr. McKay's words: Consider it an allergic reaction of the universe to identical living matter forced more than once into one reality."

A short shocked silence followed this matter-of-fact statement. Teyla was the first to find her voice.

"He knew this would happen?"

Colonel McKay gave her a fleeting glance. "He thought it might."

"Then why are we not affected?" Ronon aggressively crossed his arms though it was not clear if his very obvious anger and disbelief was still directed at the man before him or his teammate. "We came here at the same time."

"Your counterparts, if they are alive, are far away in another galaxy." McKay indicated a shrug. "I am here."

Teyla and Ronon shared a look as some things about their teammate's recent behavior started falling into place. The Colonel, however, had already turned back to Fraiser and fixed her with a level stare.

"Now, Janet, if you please: Jolinar."

Dr. Fraiser visibly gritted her teeth but lowered her head and closed her eyes to open them again with the familiar flash.

**"I am here."**

"Good." McKay glanced back at Novak and took the laptop she carried. Opening it up he held it out to the Tok'ra. "Now, if I understood this right the Z.P.M. out of Ba'al's residence is almost depleted or damaged and would not able to sustain the shield of Atlantis for more than a short time, correct?"

**"Unfortunately, yes."**

"But according to Novak's calculations it should still provide enough energy to bring us to Pegasus in about half the time than otherwise necessary. Do you agree?"

For a moment Jolinar considered the figures on the laptop and then nodded again. **"I do. Five or six days instead of eighteen to twenty. Approximately." **

"Would it also be able to do so after opening up a wormhole to Pegasus first?"

The Tok'ra's eyebrows rose as the symbiote thought about this then glanced at Novak who looked decidedly worried and unhappy.

**"We did not have time to fully study the readouts but from what we have seen so far and what Dr. McKay told us about the power consumption of dialing another galaxy - I do not think it likely, no. Not all the way." **

Colonel McKay pursed his lips and said nothing. Instead Ronon spoke up in sudden understanding.

"You consider establishing a bridgehead in Pegasus. Go looking for a Z.P.M. before you even get there with the ship."

For a second McKay's unreadable eyes swept over to the former runner.

"A tempting thought. But no. I do not intend to split my crew like that."

Ronon frowned. "Then why are you..."

He stopped short, realization coming to him the same moment it did to Teyla.

"Us," the Athosian breathed, "You are intending to send us, to the planet with the device."

Colonel McKay gave her the shadow of a crooked smile, so achingly familiar, as he tapped his radio.

"McKay to Navigation. Set course to the coordinates as ordered. Full speed."

_"Affirmative, sir. New course is programmed and executed." _

"Good. McKay out." The Colonel gave his ex-wife a pointed look and tilted his head towards his unconscious alternate self on the bed. "You better get him on his feet, Janet. We need a way to connect a Z.P.M. to a Stargate and dial another galaxy in less than fifteen minutes, with Ba'al and his ships still somewhere around, and he has exactly two hours to find it."

Not waiting for an answer he turned on the spot and was about to head for the door when Teyla's call brought him to a stop.

"Colonel McKay?"

Turning back again he lifted his eyebrows coolly. Unfazed Teyla walked forward until she stood right in front of him, meeting his impassive gaze calmly.

"I believe you are a good man. In any reality."

And with that she placed both hands on his shoulders and lowered her head towards him, and the sickbay of the _Isaac Newton_ was treated to the extremely rare sight of their commander floundering helplessly for what to do. Ronon didn't even try to hide his amused grin while Captain Sheppard snorted behind his hand, Novak hiccupped loudly and Janet Fraiser rolled her eyes with an exaggerated sigh. Smiling Teyla let one hand slide up to the back of McKay's head and gently guided him forward until their foreheads touched.

Finally releasing him in the sudden, almost reverent silence she stepped back.

A long moment Colonel McKay regarded her with a very peculiar look.

"What -," he finally asked thoughtfully, "- is the name of your son?"

Teyla lifted her head proudly, a fine smile on her lips. "Torren. Son of Kanaan."

"Torren," the Colonel repeated slowly, "Son of Kanaan."

And Teyla knew he had just given her something back.


	17. Full Circle

Disclaimer: The Stargate universe belongs to MGM et al. - this is for fun, no copyright infringement is intended.

**

* * *

**

**- Atlantis, Gate Room. **

"I am sorry the energy spike of the device seemed to have been for no particular reason." Halling placed a comforting hand on Kanaan's shoulder. "But you must not give up hope."

The younger man smiled a bit grimly as he met the other one's gentle eyes. "I am not, Halling. I know Teyla will..." He broke off, swallowed and closed his eyes for a second. "Thank you for coming."

"It is nothing."

The two Athosian's briefly touched their foreheads together. Then Halling gently cupped a sleeping Torren's head in his large hand before turning to the third man standing with them by the silent ring of the Stargate.

"Mr. Woolsey."

"Halling." The leader of the Atlantis Expedition returned the slight bow of the head the other man offered. "I, too, have to thank you for coming and to allow us to partake in the ceremony of the Lost Hunter. It was ... moving."

"I am pleased to hear you think so."

Halling's voice was not without a hint of sarcasm - not surprising considering some of his past experiences with Atlantean leaders and their regard for Athosian traditions - and Woolsey hastily cleared his throat and looked up to the gallery and Chuck.

"Dial up the Gate!"

The streak of light started its dance around the circle and within a few moments the wormhole exploded into existence. Nodding again in greeting at the people around him Halling strode through the Gate and it shut down after his passage. Sighing quietly Kanaan stroked the back of his son and turned away. Woolsey shifted uncomfortably on his feet.

"We are still analyzing the data collected during the brief activation of the device," he offered somewhat awkwardly, "I'm sure it has to mean something."

Kanaan looked at him and then lowered his gaze. "Mr. Woolsey, don't think I don't understand -"

Both men spun around as a chevron lit up noisily on the Gate behind them.

"Unscheduled off-world activation!" Chuck called down from his station, causing the marines on guard duty to surge forward into position. "Raising the shield!"

"Which teams do we have out?" Woolsey called back as he and Kanaan hastily retreated to the stairs, the Athosian seeking cover behind a pillar for the sake of his son even if he was unwilling to leave completely.

"Six and Eleven, both on worlds we have visited before and not scheduled to be back in the next three hours," Chuck replied, raising his voice over the harsh sound of the event horizon forming. He then put a hand to his ear with the radio. "Receiving Alpha Site I.D.C."

"Lower the shield," Woolsey ordered.

For a moment the event horizon rippled undisturbed after the shield had flickered off then two figures emerged with soft, wet splashes, looking around as the wormhole vanished behind them.

"Colonel Sheppard? Dr. Zelenka! What -? How -?"

Woolsey started forward, gaping at the two disheveled, unshaven men and Sheppard exhaled a long breath as he ran a hand through his dirty hair.

"Mr. Woolsey. I can tell you it's damn good to be back. Took us a moment to figure out that the device disappearing right under our nose again was actually proof we must have landed in the right reality. And since we have lost our G.D.O.s we had to come in over the Alpha Site."

"Yes," Zelenka broke in, "because, you see, the device is like Quantum Mirror and -"

"Yes, yes, we know that, we found its origin in the database..." Woolsey was staring alternately at the rough bandage around Sheppard's arm and the bruising in Zelenka's face. Even the marine guards seemed somewhat rattled by this sight. "What happened and where are..."

"Teyla?" Kanaan asked quietly as he stepped closer.

Everybody was abruptly silent.

John's voice was very soft. "Then they have not returned, yet?"

He could read the answer in the faces around him.

* * *

**- Alternate reality. P5G-399. **

"OK, OK! I think we got everything covered!"

Rodney rubbed his tired face with both hands, shouting over the steady thrum of engines coming from the spaceship standing in the air some hundred yards above them like a gigantic bird of prey. Teyla was hovering right at his elbow, with Jolinar and another engineer standing by the glowing Z.P.M. while Ronon and the three strongest men of the ship got in position under the towering Naquadah circle of the Stargate as the scientist started ticking off at his fingers.

"Since it wasn't an option to reprogram the main computer of the ship as a dialing computer and the DHD is not equipped with the necessary control crystal, we disconnected it completely from the Gate! Instead we will simply pump as much energy as possible from the Z.P.M. directly into the Stargate and then dial manually as soon as the inner ring unlocks! That way the Gate should accept the eighth chevron! The calculations for the hyperdrive modifications are complete, I have shown you how to wire a Z.P.M. in and you know how to raise the city as soon as you reach Atlantis! Then you have Mister Super-Gene up there -" a finger pointed upwards to the _Newton_, "- and samples of my blood to reverse engineer Carson's artificial gene therapy! You know where to find the Athosians - theoretically - and I have given you the exact frequency of Ronon's original tracing device so you should be able to locate him pretty quickly once Atlantis's long range sensors are online!" By the Gate Ronon's head whipped around. It was doubtful Rodney noticed in his exhaustion. Three more fits had taken their toll. He took a deep breath. "We are good to go!"

_"Understood!"_ Colonel McKay's confirmation over the radio was barely loud enough to be heard over the noise of the engines. _"Go ahead!" _

Rodney tiredly looked at Jolinar then turned when Teyla put a hand on his arm and tapped her own radio.

"Colonel McKay?"

_"Yes?"_

"Thank you! To you all!" Teyla shouted over the artificial wind. Then she suddenly grinned mischievously through the hair whipping around her face. "And Colonel? You need not fear! My people are not in the habit of drinking their tea with citrus!"

On the bridge of the _Newton_ every pair of eyes turned surreptitiously to their commander who frowned with pursed lips through the front window. On his left-hand side Captain Sheppard was biting his cheek so hard is was a miracle he did not draw blood.

"Okay..." Colonel McKay responded finally a bit doubtful before he gathered himself again. "Proceed, Jolinar."

_**"Proceeding!" **_the resonant voice of the Tok'ra came back over the com system,_** "Energy transfer from Z.P.M. to the Gate has started!" **_

The Colonel glanced to his right. "Anything yet?"

"Watchdog One to Four report no contacts, sir," Captain Kleinmann replied.

_**"The inner ring is unlocked. Chevron one is dialed and ... encoded!" **_

"Captain, get us in position for pickup." Rodney's alternate self briefly drummed his fingers on his console before stilling them again. "Contacts?"

"Still negative, sir."

_**"Chevron two ... encoded!" **_

Under Captain Sheppard's experienced hands the _Isaac Newton_ sank lower and inched forward until the ground was in reach of the rings of platform three. Jolinar's radio now carried the thrum of engines as well as the Tok'ra's voice.

_**"Chevron three ... encoded!" **_

"Watchdog Two reports contact!" Captain Kleinmann's shout rang through the bridge. "Three Al'kesh and one Ha'tak just came out of hyperspace, are now on our sensors too!"

Colonel McKay's face was unreadable as he clicked his own radio. "Watchdog Two: Throw them a bone."

* * *

**- Alternate reality. In space. **

"Roger, _Newton_, throwing," Lieutenant Miller replied from inside his glider. A predatory smile was dancing around the corner of his mouth as he signaled to his team. "Come on, boys and girls, let's give them something to chew on!"

The six fighters shot out of the cover of the asteroid belt P5G-399 was famous and feared for, and took off around the planet as if the hounds of hell were on their heels ... and the Goa'uld ships fell for the diversion and gave chase.

* * *

**- Alternate reality. P5G-399, **_**Isaac Newton**_**. **

"Enemy is moving away from our position," the weapon's officer announced calmly, "Now out of sensor range behind the planet but Watchdog Three reports the F-72s well ahead and out of weapon range."

"Relay via Watchdog Three they are to keep it that way." Colonel McKay stared at the changing displays on his console, listening with one ear to Jolinar's still incoming voice.

_**"Chevron five ... encoded, and ... chevron six encoded! Power output of the Z.P.M. ... steady!" **_

"Now we'll see," mumbled someone in the back.

_**"Chevron seven ... encoded!"**_ The voice of the Tok'ra rose in excitement. _**"It is working!" **_

"Sir," interrupted Sheppard, staring at his display, "Look at the energy emission!"

"I see it," the Colonel answered sharply, "Kleinmann, are the enemy vessels still behind the planet?"

"Affirmation by Watchdog One. But they are fanning out; one of them is bound to come out of sensor shadow soon. God, they'd have to be blind to overlook that energy source!"

McKay rapped his radio. "Jolinar, speed things up, we've got company and Gate and Z.P.M. are a damn bright beacon on the sensors!"

_**"Understood! Chevron eight has locked! Event horizon is forming ... wormhole is established!" **_

Several agonizingly long heartbeats passed while everybody on the bridge stared at their consoles or listened to the murmured back and forth between the tactical station and the fighters in space.

_**"They are through! Gate has shut down!" **_

"Disengage the Z.P.M. and get ready for transport!" Colonel McKay's voice was sharp. Then to his right: "Recall Watchdogs to meeting point!"

"Yes, sir!"

_**"Newton, all equipment disconnected and within the ring parameters! Perdes, we are ready for transport... Bridge -" **_Jolinar's voice suddenly lost its shouting quality,_** "- direct ring pickup complete, all personnel on board and accounted for." **_

"Understood."

McKay jerked his thump commandingly and Captain Sheppard guided the _Newton_ up in a steep angle, clearing the atmosphere within minutes and surprising the Goa'uld ships completely with their appearance over the curve of the planet. Showing her tail the Earth vessel accelerated rapidly while F-72s zoomed in from all sides and neatly hit the fighter bays in full flight. Finally getting over the shock the Ha'tak opened fire but by then Sheppard had already opened a hyperspace window. The dark velvet of space gave way to the shades of blue of the other dimension.

"Bay doors closed and secured for hyperspace, all gliders accounted for," someone reported from the back.

"Good." One last time Colonel McKay tapped his radio. "McKay to all stations: Good work."

The com system relayed a heartfelt if rather out-of-the-line whopping from somewhere in the ship and the tension on the bridge dissolved in a burst of laughter. Rumors had it later that even around Colonel McKay's lips ghosted a smile as he shook his head with a small snort.

Checking his controls and growing serious again Captain Sheppard finally glanced at his superior officer and his soft question brought silence back.

"Colonel? Do you think they'll make it?"

"Hmm?" McKay's mind was already occupied with possibilities circling around Proclarush, a certain Z.P.M. and the Gate address for a planet with a downed Tok'ra scout ship they might - given a bit of time - get fit for short hyperspace travel again. He had never been a man to miss opportunities. "Sure they will."

Then he glanced at his pilot and the corner of his mouth twitched. "He's me, after all."

* * *

**- Atlantis, Infirmary. **

"They both have several cracked as well as broken rips. The graze on Colonel Sheppard's arm was already slightly infected and required careful cleaning and three stitches. He suffered extensive blunt trauma in the lower chest, upper abdomen and also some skin abrasions that didn't need treatment. Dr. Zelenka has a hairline fracture of the nose. There is evidence of multiple blunt traumas all over his body that seem to be - in my professional opinion - a result of repeated and continuous mistreatment. At one point he obviously also suffered internal bleeding but that seems to have luckily stopped on its own. They are no clones and otherwise match the physical condition recorded in their medical files." Dr. Keller resolutely put down the tablet she had been reading from and crossed her arms, tilting her head. "As far as medicine goes they are the men we know."

Richard Woolsey exchanged a long look with Lorne.

"I'll inform the personnel," the major said quietly, "Rumor is spreading as it is; better to keep it to the facts until we know more."

"Do that."

Watching the other man leave through one door, Woolsey heaved a sigh and took the other to head out of Keller's office and over to the two men sitting fully dressed on hospital beds. Given their condition it had seemed more appropriate to bring them here than the isolation room. Sheppard looked up at his approach; Zelenka kept studying the laptop with information about the Ancient engineer Hokatom on his lap. The colonel cocked his brow somewhat sardonically.

"Well? Satisfied that we are we we?"

"Ah... Yes. Indeed." Woolsey rubbed his hands. "Colonel, you understand that we had to be certain."

"Oh, sure, it's not as if this whole procedure is that new to me," John waved him off with a brief crooked grin. After all he had gone through the same procedure after his return from the future.

"Right. Now, well, Colonel, Doctor -"

"I need to see the machine." Radek abruptly closed the laptop and attempted groaning and wincing to swing his legs off the bed. Keller intercepted him.

"What you need is rest, Dr. Zelenka."

"No, no, you don't understand!" Zelenka eagerly and with obvious joy pushed the pair of spare glassed someone had fetched from his quarters up his nose. "The device activated _on its own_ to bring us back. The only conclusion is that the device - _all_ devices - file information about the DNA of the people transported AND which reality they come from. That means it must be possible to access this information and that means I should be able to isolate the reality Rodney, Teyla and Ronon have been sent to!"

Woolsey frowned. "You mean you can bring them back remotely, so to speak?"

"Probably not bring them back directly but at least we will know where to send the rescue team," John growled, hopping down from the bed and grimacing when he jostled his arm and rips.

"Wait, wait, just a second." Woolsey held up his hand. "I don't know if this is such a good idea."

"What?" John stared at him as if he had lost his mind. "We are talking about McKay, Teyla and Ronon here!"

"And until an hour ago we were also talking about you and Dr. Zelenka!"

Sheppard opened his mouth and closed it again.

"There should be no problems as long as no gene-carrier comes close to the device," Zelenka soberly put in. "I believe Engineer Hokatom secured his project with the same technique he and his wife developed so only someone with the gene would be able to activate it. Since I don't, the risk is limited."

"Or you are wrong and once more end up stranded in another universe - only this time alone," Woolsey pointed out grimly.

Turning from one to the other he looked in their faces. Zelenka's expression was wary but determined, Keller seemed undecided, and Sheppard torn between concern for the Czech scientist and worry for his teammates and friends. And Kanaan, standing unobtrusively at the back wall, kept his eyes downcast as he gently rocked his sleeping son. Woolsey sighed in resignation.

"All right, fine," he conceded, "But the moment there seems to be trouble I'll call this off!"

"Yes, yes, right."

Zelenka clambered from the bed, swaying a moment before he found his balance. Sheppard deftly relieved him of the laptop only to find it snagged away by Keller who proceeded to pass it on to a surprised Woolsey.

"I want to make it clear that you are both leaving the infirmary against my direct medical advice," the slender blonde stated sternly then her face softened. "Bring them back."

"We will." Sheppard briefly laid his hand on her arm. And he could not help but wonder what events in her life had made the alternate Jennifer Keller the cold woman she had been. It was just one more thing he would never know.

It was not a long walk to the lab where they had sealed up the device and most of it was spent in silence. Everybody was occupied with their own thoughts even as Torren woke up at one point and started fussing. No one questioned Kanaan's right or need to be there. They were in the last stretch of corridor before the lab doors when Chuck's voice suddenly rang out over the com system.

_"Control Room to Woolsey! Sir, we are detecting another energy spike coming from the device! The readouts are skyrocketing!" _

"What?"

Everybody picked up the pace and Woolsey and Sheppard were reaching simultaneously for their radios. However, before they could even touch them, there was a sharp scratch and crackle and then a familiar voice talking over some impatient mumbling in the back...

_"… yes, yes, yes, I'm already on it, I'm on it! Hello? Hello? Does anybody read?" _

"McKay?" Sheppard slapped his radio hard the same moment Kanaan screamed "_TEYLA?_"

_"Kanaan? Kanaan!" _There was frantic hammering against the sealed doors, they shot open as the lock was overriden from inside and Teyla burst through, flying towards them. "Kanaan! Oh – oh, TORREN!"

"Rodney!" While Teyla flung her arms around her mate and her son Sheppard started for the scientist hurrying out in her wake but was cleanly lifted off his feet when Ronon intercepted him with a roaring bear hug. "Ow! OW! Careful, big guy!"

What left Rodney and Radek ending up in front of each other.

"Whatever happened to your face?" McKay asked, staring.

"Whatever happened to you?" Radek retorted, staring back at the dark rings of fatigue and strain under the other scientist's eyes.

"I asked first."

"And we got _back_ first."

"Huh?"

"All right, infirmary, everybody, now!" Woolsey finally made himself heard over the noise and accented his command with waving arms.

Still talking animatedly across each other the group shuffled around and headed back up the corridor; Sheppard protesting loudly against Ronon's repeated attempts to ruffle his hair, Kanaan's arm firmly wrapped around Teyla's shoulders while she cooed to a squealing Torren, and McKay and Zelenka already arguing about something scientific, sometimes including the Colonel in the mix.

Shaking his head Woolsey made a step then stopped and looked back. Through the open door he saw Hokatom's device, sitting still and inactive in the brightly lit lab. Approaching the opening Woolsey bent just enough inside to wave his hand above the light controls then tapped his radio as he stepped back from the now dark room.

"Control Room, seal the lab again until further notice."

_"Done."_

Satisfied Woolsey turned to follow the group already halfway down the corridor and met Kanaan's eyes, the Athosian looking back at him over the arm he had put around Teyla. He minutely bowed his head in a silent gesture of thanks. And smiling a bit himself Woolsey quietly nodded back.


	18. Epilogue

Disclaimer: The Stargate universe belongs to MGM et al. - this is for fun, no copyright infringement is intended.

**

* * *

**

**- Pegasus Galaxy, Atlantis. Two weeks later. **

"Well," said Lt. Colonel John Sheppard, nudging a piece of torn out Ancient technology with his foot on entering the lab, "I guess the IOA can rest assured now."

"What? Oh, it's you." Popping up behind the nearly gutted device like a jack-in-the-box Rodney frowned impatiently at his teammate. "What do you want?"

"Nothing. I just thought I'll check up on you two since Teyla is with Kanaan and Torren while Ronon is having fun with the marines. So, found that amazingly powerful power source yet?"

Sighing deeply Rodney considered the crystal in his hand and then threw it over his shoulder, almost hitting Zelenka who was sitting at a table in the back. The Czech ducked with long practice.

"Yes, and no."

"Care to explain that, McKay?"

Rodney's hands began weaving about.

"Yes - as in the whole device is sort of one big Z.P.M. And no because originally it wasn't that powerful at all. Maybe thirty percent of a normal Zero Point Module what - in itself - is still a lot of energy but way too little to transport three people into another galaxy."

"OK, up to now you only succeeded in confusing me more."

That earned Sheppard a scathing look and Radek thought it prudent to intervene before conversation deteriorated into an all-out squabble.

"What he wanted to say was that for the first several hundred years after its construction by Hokatom the device would not have been able to do what it did. You see, strictly talking quantum physics, the multilayer universe is expanding at an incomprehensible rate due to the fact that any action or reaction creates its own reality depending on the outcome. Now," he pushed up his glasses, "it is in the nature of the device that all versions of it communicate with one another. What is more, they not only exchange data but also energy, conglomerating their individual power sources to actually one big one. So as the device multiplied and multiplied and multiplied along with the newly-created timelines or realities or universes, whatever you want to call them, the power output possible multiplied along with it. For more than ten thousand years."

John did a quick calculation in his head and came up slightly dazzled. "Cool."

"Yes, cool," Rodney cut in impatiently, disgruntled his colleague had beaten him to the explanation, "And all that power is completely useless to us because the output is so wired into the other functions of the device that there is no way to separate them."

"OK, that is ... not so cool."

Rodney groaned and dropped his face in his hands in exasperation.

"What?" Sheppard flashed a grin before putting his hands to his hips and prodding the piece of tech again with his toe. "So, if I get this right our trips turned out so differently because Radek had dialed the power output down before it activated the second time?"

"No."

"McKay..."

"They turned out differently because Radek was for once actually right about the DNA thing. Only that he was also wrong, of course."

Rapid Czech spluttering came from the table in the back.

"What? I just tell it as it is." Rodney raised his brows at his colleague before turning back to Sheppard. "See, the device did file the DNA of people who used it but only if they had the Ancient gene. Looks like Hokatom didn't care much about the human population of Pegasus. Anyway, the device was programmed to scan the DNA of the person about to activate it and then search for a match in the target reality via a highly complicated process involving the built-in not-quite Z.P.M. which, as you might remember, draws energy from our own..."

"McKay...! Get back to the topic!" John interrupted firmly.

"Uh, OK, right, DNA. As I said, the device scans the reality chosen for the alternate self of the person using it and sends him or her to a location in close proximity of that match. At least that's the way it worked with me, and since I was in physical contact with Teyla and Ronon at that very moment I happened to take them with me. Now you - or I rather suspect Radek - changed the settings while lugging it around but since the device was unable to home in on your alternate self in the programmed reality - with you being dead there - it simply shifted you in the same place. "

"And since Radek had grabbed my arm now _I _took him with me," John finished thoughtfully, "Sorry about that, doc."

Zelenka just waved his hand in a don't-worry-about-it gesture. Sheppard thought some more about what he had heard, and the result he came up with was not pleasant.

"Hold on," he said slowly, "If the device stored only your and my DNA that means neither Zelenka nor Ronon or Teyla would have been able to return on their own? Or would not have returned with us if we had not been in very close physical proximity that precise moment again?"

Both scientist just looked at him and said nothing.

"OK, this officially sucks!"

"Yeah, well, what did you expect from an Ancient gone loony?" Rodney shrugged philosophically.

"You may have a point here. OK, what about our returns? Why did you get the easy exit while we had to hike around on two different worlds?"

"That's because the device had - still has, in other realities - a one-track mind or rather a one-track programming. You shift with a relocation - you are looped back with a relocation. You shift in place - you are bounced back in place."

"That ... actually makes a twisted kind of sense."

"Hey, Hokatom might have been a loony but he was a consequent loony."

"If you say so? OK, listen..." Sheppard pointed a thump over his shoulder, "Looks like you are about done here so who's with me to grab a bite in the mess hall?"

Rodney and Zelenka glanced at each other. The Czech shrugged and got up.

"I could eat."

"Fine, then let's go." John turned, stepped on one of the bigger parts of the device littering the floor, yelped, cursed and limped the next two steps. Looking up he found Rodney staring at him strangely. "What?"

Rodney jumped. "Nothing! Just ... nothing."

Shaking his head Sheppard followed his friend to the door. He knew the reports he and Zelenka had written about their odyssey had left quite a few things out even if they contained no outright lie. He strongly suspected the same went for the accounts Rodney, Teyla and Ronon had given. The IOA didn't need to know everything. To be honest, even among friends one didn't need to know everything. You were allowed to wonder, however. Catching up with the Canadian scientist he clapped him lightly on the back.

"And? So you think those survivors on the spaceship will make it to Atlantis in their reality?"

"Please, as if there could go anything wrong when I did the calculations for the hyperdrive modifications. Besides, Colonel McKay may have wasted our brilliance on the military but he's still me, after all," Rodney stated then brightened considerably, "Not to forget that he his _your superior officer_! Ha!"

Sheppard just growled at this verbal punch below the belt. He still had a hard time wrapping his mind around that little tidbit. Going by Zelenka's muttered "Rodney, starship commander; God help them" Sheppard was not alone in this one.

"You are just jealous," Rodney returned unfazed, a smug bounce in his step, "Face it, even in the reality you ended up in you needed my help to get back. By the way, what was I there? So far my alternate versions covered scientist, space captain and successful businessman if Sam is to be believed. Your report was a bit dry in that aspect, it only said you contacted me and Jeannie."

He missed the quick glance passing between Sheppard and Zelenka behind his back.

"You know, Rodney, we never got around to cover that topic when we were there." John's voice was forcefully cheerful.

"Pity. But I must have had something to do with science because your report says only due to my help you were able to return."

"Well, Jeannie was there too, helping, although it was indeed something you said that gave Radek the idea to stack - I mean rig the drones together."

"HA!" Rodney repeated with deep satisfaction, ignoring the comment about his sister, "I knew it! I mean I always knew that I'm the most brilliant man on Earth as well as in two galaxies but it has something gratifying to know that fact is true even in realities with timelines different from ours."

And strange as it may seem, considering the truth, somehow the runaway mouth and open bragging of his friend lifted a weight off Sheppard's heart. He even exchanged a quick smile of relief with Zelenka as he said offhandedly:

"Gee, Rodney, listening to you praise yourself I can be sure you never were silent for more than ten minutes even as a child."

Rodney snorted.

"Is that an insult? Well, Colonel, I have you know that I have no problems being silent if necessary. In fact there was even talk of some sort of autism once just because the average adult is too narrow-minded to understand that you have to spent long hours in front of the piano to perfect your technique -," suddenly noticing that he was about to veer into emotionally dangerous territory he abruptly changed his verbal direction, "- but then I gave up on playing anyway and turned to science, and that was just as well or can you imagine the loss to the academic world? Wait, are those fresh muffins I am smelling? Why wasn't I told it is Muffin Day in the mess? Oh, this is Ronon's doing, isn't it? Just wait..."

As Rodney charged ahead, still talking, he did not notice that John and Radek had come to a dead stop in the middle of the corridor.

They stood there for long minutes.

* * *

**- Alternate reality. Earth, Vancouver. **

"Mer?"

Jeannie McKay stopped in the door and shifted the bundle in her arms, watching her brother's back as he building stacks of blocks on the table. He didn't react to her presence, as usual. Hesitating briefly Jeannie finally entered the room and stood beside him, keeping a careful arm's length away.

"Mer?" she tried again softly, "Mer, look what I've got here: It's a cat."

And as the slender tomcat she had decided upon instead of taking one of the cute kittens in the animal shelter - figuring he would be better suited to handle her brother's sometimes violent mood swings - curiously stretched from her arm, her brother suddenly paused and turned his head, meeting the green-and-hazel eyes. For the first time in over twenty years reacting on his own accord to a new visual stimulation.

Swallowing hard against tears suddenly threatening to spill Jeannie dug her fingers into the black-and-gray striped fur. She forced her mouth into a wobbly smile.

"Yes, a cat. His - his name's Johnny, Mer. Look, you can pet him, see?"

There was no change in her brother's face, no understanding in his bland blue eyes. But he also didn't start screaming as Jeannie half expected when the tomcat suddenly squirmed free from her grip and lightly landed on the table to sniff at the scattered building blocks there. Tail erect, it then marched self-confidently on to the other side and easily jumped down to the floor, proceeding to explore its new home. And slowly, but unquestionable deliberately Rodney's head moved to follow its path to the point where it disappeared under a cupboard. After staring a few seconds blankly at the now empty spot he finally turned forward again, calmly picked up another block and put it on the started stack in front of him.

Silent tears rolling down her face Jeannie stood with a hand pressed over her mouth, and watched her brother patiently building his useless little towers. Block on block on block on block. Until it all fell down again.

* * *

The End


End file.
